< Previousreaders’10Business Link www.blmforum.netTrying timesDear Sir,As the MD of a company which operates in Yorkshire,I’m no stranger to tense business and difficult times, butthe recent decision to make employment tribunals moreaffordable has really got the management team where Iwork on edge. We don’t experience many tribunals a year,but we have a lot of staff, and where we do, it’s anightmarish waste of time.Now, with tribunals being available to all at no cost, Ican’t help but imagine it’s only going to get worse. Whenthere’s no downside to going for one, at least from anemployee’s point of view, then why would anyone everaccept being sacked without giving it a go?Here’s to hoping this doesn’t make things any harder forthe business community, but I can’t help but think this wasa move solely designed to win votes.D.S, Sheffield Snail railDear Sir,I was surprised to hear of an extra £300million announced for rail in our region, orrather the Northern Powerhouse. While thislevel of investment is indeed fantastic news, Ido still have to wonder if it will have anyrealistic effect on business in the region. Idon’t personally use rail, and I’m not surewhich companies it will actually benefit.Could not that same £300 million havebeen used in a more tangible manner? R Swain,NewarkSomething to say? Write to:Business Link Magazine, Armstrong House,Armstrong Street, Grimsby,North East Lincolnshire DN31 2QE or email:letters@blmgroup.co.ukPHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/NIKODASH / I AM WAYPolitics, Politics,Politics…Dear Sir,It was strange this month to wake up and seePhilip Hammond admit that he is aware howbusinesses feel in this period of uncertainty. Whatshould have been a heartening moment insteadturned into a raised eyebrow, followed by apregnant pause. Yet again, however, there was noexplanation of effort to actually fix anything. I’m not sure what the future holds in terms ofpolitics, but one thing is certain - we need moredetails and less rhetoric.B SamsonEmail© Shutterstock / Twocoms10_Layout 1 03/10/2017 12:25 Page 1www.blmforum.netBusiness Link 11IT AND TELECOMMUNICATIONSIT is an ever-expanding field,so keeping on top of newdevelopments can bedifficult; but necessarynonetheless.Improved broadband andconnectivity in our region has ensurednew potential for businesses to tap intothe digital marketplace. Yet manycompanies are still refusing to takeadvantage of the opportunities availableto them, or to utilise them efficiently. The improvements in IT over recentyears have often been considered oneof the solutions to the dominance of theSouth East in the UK economy. Theidea is that it no longer mattered if thecompany was based in London or LittleCawthorpe as technology would allow itto liaise with customers face to face,regardless of location.Of course, for many in the moreremote parts of our region, the realitywas that their internet connectionswere so slow, it would have been justas effective to communicate via letter.However it finally looks as if most ofYorkshire and Lincolnshire arebeginning to get better connected,thanks to various schemes backed bythe Government, and other localbodies.This all seems like good news forthose in the region, but it does little tochange the fact that many businessesstill have not adapted their sites andpractices to take advantage of this. For instance; research shows thatsmartphones and tablets accounted for60% of all digital media time. With newiPhones, tablets and mobile devicesbeing released, this figure is expectedto rise in the coming years as well.Google, along with many other searchengines have responded to this byrating companies with mobile-friendlywebsites higher in their organicrankings. This can be an incredible loss forthose who haven’t made the moves tomake their company mobile-friendlyahead of time, and a great steppingblock for those who have. Smallercompanies are expected to be hit theworst with this, due to the fact thatmany SME’s don’t have the funds ortime to properly invest in SEOmanagement, let alone optimisingwebsites for multiple platforms. For anycompany who aims to generate leadsthrough their presence on Google, thenchecking if their site is mobile-friendlyor not, and having some solve the issue© Shutterstock / dotshockOn top of the game12 Á11-13_Layout 1 02/10/2017 11:09 Page 112Business Link www.blmforum.netIT AND TELECOMMUNICATIONSif the latter is true, will become a clearnecessity.What has come as a larger surprisehowever, is just how many largercompanies will be damaged by thischange as well, with such well-knownnames as Vogue, Bloomberg Businessand Nintendo set to suffer. For largercompanies within our region, aninhibiting factor is not funds orresources, but the complexity of thewebsites itself. Where there might behundreds of individual pages to change,along with associated coding, the taskcan become increasingly daunting. It is something that cannot beignored, however. Those that do mightfind themselves damaged from the lackof any search ranking, which might leadto competitors being highlighted evenshould a user search the name of aspecific company. Many IT companiesare more than aware of the necessity ofmobile-friendly websites and can helpadapt for minimal costs, but this willonly help if a company identifies thisweakness in their own website first. Asimple check on a mobile device can beall that is necessary. The problem for many in our regionhowever, is that SME’s often lack DigitalMarketers, a company not being largeenough to warrant having a member ofstaff dedicated to this. For thesepeople, the only real solution might beto outsource the optimisation of theirwebsite to an outside company. It is worth conducting a few tests onyour own website before consideringthis. Google themselves have releaseda tool that will analyse a website to seewhether it is mobile-friendly. And sinceit is their own tool which judges therankings, it would be best to use that. Aquick search on Google for theirmobile-friendly tool brings up a simplepage that checks your site for you.Alternatively, one can simply load ontotheir site using a mobile phone of somekind, and see whether the page layoutchanges to accommodate the smallerscreen. Ideally, it should also stretch tofit if an iPhone is turned on its side forlandscape viewing. If it does not, then the fact that over60% of people view on said devicesshould start to send warning bellsthrough a manager’s mind. Another area where companies arefalling behind is cyber-security, mainlybecause many are not seeing the needto invest until something goes wrong,which is a dangerous perspective akinto leaving the house door unlocked tosee whether you’re burgled. In a recentstudy undertaken by Dell, it was foundthat malicious attacks over the internethad increased dramatically within theBusiness environment. In terms ofspecific attacks, there had been adramatic increase in the amount of`point of sale` malware, increasedmalware traffic through encrypted webprotocols, and perhaps most alarming –twice the number of attacks onsupervisory control and date acquisition(SCADA) systems. The latter is of particular danger tomany companies in the UK, and ourregion, due to the prevalence of SCADAsystems within many of our mostcommon businesses. Including mostmanufacturers with a central plant,recycling and waste management firmsand logistics and transport companies.Point of sale malware can be farmore devastating, and has affectedmany large brands including Sears inthe US. How PoS malware works isoften that it infects card transactionmachines, and begins to record andtransmit the card information of anyonewho uses the machine. This informationis then collected in a distant location fora period of time, before the bank11-13_Layout 1 02/10/2017 11:09 Page 2www.blmforum.netBusiness Link 13IT AND TELECOMMUNICATIONSaccounts of those people are thenbroken into, and money withdrawn.The Christmas period is naturally a biglure to criminals operating this, sinceone can safely assume there will be alot more people making transactions instores. In many cases it is not thatcompanies are placing no effort intoupdating their IT security, but that theyare not taking the correct steps. Thehuge range of available IT securityproducts for industry is a double-edgedsword for many companies. Althoughthere are a lot of options to choosefrom, inexperienced companies caneasily end up spending a fortune on ITsecurity systems that might not beappropriate for their specific needs.Keeping on top of all of this isn’teasy in a quickly changing world, butthe work is necessary, and competitorswill almost certainly pay attention ifothers don’t. There is only so muchreward that can be reaped, and few arethose who will grasp it without someeffort. © Shutterstock / Rawpixel.com© Shutterstock / George Rudy11-13_Layout 1 02/10/2017 11:09 Page 314Business Link www.blmforum.netGetextraWhat’s the story behind Getextra?I’ve been a Chartered Marketer formany years and have a strongbackground in traditional marketing. ButI’ve always enjoyed web design andtechnology too and even taught someweb design evening classes for a while.Then someone had the brainwave that Icould combine my interests and set upan online marketing agency. That seed of an idea blossomed intoGetextra, which I launched in 2008.Almost 10 years on, I’m immenselyproud to be a Google Partner and tohold all their certifications includingtheir latest ‘Trusted Digital MarketingAdviser’ accreditation.Can you paint us a broad-brushpicture of how AdWords works?With AdWords you can measure youradvert’s return on investment incrediblyaccurately. There are several tools, thelargest being ‘Sponsored Search’. Theseare the text adverts that appear at thetop of each page whenever you Googlesomething. To place these, you figure out whichwords people most commonly usewhen looking for what you offer, thencreate a 150-character advert usingthem. When Google can match the textin your advert with the text in people’ssearches it lists your advert as aSponsored Search result. Being ‘Pay PerClick’, you only incur charges whenvisitors click on your advert and land onyour site.Other Google products includeshopping, display network, videoadvertising and some fantastic tools formobile. Then there’s Google Analytics,which tracks visitor activity on your siteand helps you identify which activitiesare working, what needs tweaking andwhat needs to be dropped from yourcampaign activity altogether. It’s incredibly powerful stuff that’stransformed the way successfulcompanies spend their advertisingbudgets. To give you an idea of howphenomenally successful it is, AdWordsalone generates around 99% ofGoogle’s revenue!What’s a Google Partner?In Google’s words: “The GooglePartner badge shows that specificPartners have passed Google AdWordsproduct certification exams and are upto date with the latest productknowledge. In other words, they earnedit”. We were one of first agencies in theUK to become a Partner and wecurrently hold a specialist award forpassing all of Google’s certifications.A few months ago, Google selectedGetextra as one of just 30 highperforming agencies in the UK toparticipate in their Elevator scheme.This premium six-month trainingprogramme provides in-depth trainingfrom Google directly and we’reexceptionally proud to be the onlyagency across Yorkshire andLincolnshire to have been selected,which helps us stay ahead inunderstanding Google’s tool andalgorithm updates.How much does AdWords cost?Because AdWords is pay-per-click,you only pay Google when a potentialcustomer visits your site. The cost isdetermined by an auction that runsevery time someone Googlessomething. Winning bids can range from a fewpence to tens of pounds depending onthe competition within your market forthe parameters you’ve set in yourcampaign. You can also set themaximum you’re prepared to spendeach day and when you change thatyou can see an almost immediateimpact on your campaign.Because we believe trustedrelationships are built on transparency,we always itemise our management fee.That way clients can see exactly whatthey’re spending on advertising andthere’s complete openness about thecost of our service and expertise.We find that companies usually set amodest trial budget for a campaign,monitor it, then increase the budget togenerate additional traffic and salesonce they see it working.What do I get for my managementfee?We have a tried and tested approachwhen creating the basis for a searchcampaign which is easy for our clientsto follow and amend. Once this‘blueprint’ is signed off, we build thecampaign using Google’s latest bestpractice advice and use our experienceand expertise to maximise the impact.Before launching the campaign, weQ&APaul Smith, Managing Director at GetextraTapping into his decade of Google AdWords experience, we chat algorithms,auction prices and how you can get the best bang for your buck with Getextra’sManaging Director, Paul Smith.14-15_Layout 1 02/10/2017 11:10 Page 1www.blmforum.netBusiness Link 15Getextrawork with our clients to discuss what willbe measured and how they’d like to beupdated on performance - normallymonthly reports and a quarterly meeting.Our approach allows us to discoverhigh performing keywords at a reducedcost and maximise the impact ofGoogle’s Quality Score. What’s Google’s Quality Score?Google’s Quality Score is simply areward for having a campaign thatperforms well. Google wants the bestresults to appear at the top, so it uses analgorithm that multiplies importantelements of the campaign together andthen multiplies it by your bid in theauction. It’s incredibly complex behindthe scenes, but for us mere mortalsGoogle helpfully translates it into a scoreout of 10.Because the Quality Score has a directimpact on the price clients pay for theiradvert, we work closely with them todiscuss the elements included in thealgorithm to make sure we get themaximum discount possible for thecampaign and clearly explain anylimitations we may have.There’s a lot of information aboutGoogle Smart Pricing online (Google itand see!) but if you’d like any helpworking through the calculation, pleasefeel free to give us a call.What’s next for Getextra?Last year we placed over £2 millionworth of ad spend with Google on behalfof clients spending anything from a fewpounds per day to hundreds of poundsper a day. Our plan for 2018 is tointroduce even more companies toGoogle AdWords and demonstrate theincredible impact a professionalcampaign can have on a business.We’ll also be working with Google todeliver workshops that demonstrate howAdWords works for a range oforganisations and the different elementsthat make this the largest advertisingplatform in the world. If you’d like to arrange a chat or you’d likemore information about the workshops,please email adwords@getextra.co.uk.14-15_Layout 1 02/10/2017 11:10 Page 2PROPERTY16Business Link www.blmforum.net© Shutterstock / PhilMacDPhotoPropertybarometer Business Link explores the health of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire’scommercial property market as new developments and inwardinvestment reach new heights. 16-19_Layout 1 03/10/2017 09:22 Page 1www.blmforum.netPROPERTYBusiness Link 1719 ÁInward investment in any town, cityor region depends on high-qualityinfrastructure, the availability ofamenities and superior mobile andbroadband connections. It takesmoney to money, as they say, and soin order to attract businesses andinvestors, there first requires asignificant injection of capital toenhance transport connections,telecommunications and, of course,commercial property. Efforts from local councils andGovernment regeneration alongsideindustry input has enabled majortowns and cities across Lincolnshireand Yorkshire to fortify and evolve.Look no further than Hull. Following along and hard-fought campaign tosecure itself as City of Culture 2017,few could argue that the oncechastised city didn’t deserve itsnewfound status. The lead up to itsyear in the limelight saw hugeinvestment and urban regenerationcementing the city as a quality placeto live, work and visit. As we enter thefinal stretch of this period, the lastingeffects are profound, and doubtlessHull will be forever changed. The very latest occupier take-up inHull’s commercial property market areencouraging, with The Deep BusinessCentre closing in on full capacity. Thisgrowth – tipped to reach 98 per cent –is at odds with the national picture offalling occupancy levels. To put that incontext, the average occupancy in theYorkshire and Humber region is 72 percent, while nationally the figure standsat 76 per cent. Unlike the commercialproperty market at large, The DeepBusiness Centre was unaffected byBrexit. Its two major departures werefor entirely different reasons with astate department having to relocatewhen government premises becameavailable, and a company which wasforced to cut back due to a downturnin the oil and gas sector. The growth experienced by TheDeep Business Centre and othersacross our region is largely down toexisting tenants expanding theirfootprints alongside incomingbusinesses as confidence and inwardinvestment in Yorkshire andLincolnshire increase. Scratch belowthe surface and the growth driversbecome apparent, namely the rise inself-employed people and theupsurge in new businesses and start-ups seeking high-quality space.Business centres and offices must16-19_Layout 1 03/10/2017 09:22 Page 2ArmstronghouseOffering a prime position in Grimsby, Armstrong House onArmstrong Street is ideally located. Close to the ports ofGrimsby and Immingham, motorway links and the town centre,off-street parking is also available for all staff and visitors,meaning it’s convenient too. Our spacious, welcoming officesare located on the ground floor and are both secure and CCTV-monitored, giving you the ultimate peace of mind.At Armstrong House, the flexible in/out terms of contractmean confidence when it comes to affordability and with a rangeof office sizes there are opportunities for all types of business. Ifyou require virtual office services, prices start from just £15 permonth. For more information, or to discuss your office requirements,give Scotts Property a call today on 01472 267000 and askabout Armstrong House.Last remaining office suitesPrime location in GrimsbySuperb Location -- Close to the ports of Grimsby &Immingham- Great motorwaylinks- Close to the town centreSecure off street parkingHigh speed internet availabilityEasy in/out termsA range of affordable office sizes33333Armstrong House, Armstrong Street,Grimsby DN31 2QETel: (01472) 310301 • Email: s.fisher@blmgroup.co.ukwww.shutterstock.com/terekhov igorwww.shutterstock.com/Yentafern16-19_Layout 1 03/10/2017 09:22 Page 3www.shutterstock.com/Yentafernwww.blmforum.netPROPERTYattract this swell of fresh businesses byproviding quality working spaces,technology and access to localamenities. More and more, businessesare searching for communal areas andchill-out zones, perhaps driven by theunconventional approaches of thegiants of Silicon Valley.There’s definitely truth to thesentiment ‘build it and they will come’certainly when applied to commercialproperty. Indeed, office space andbusiness centres are key to attractingnational and foreign investment,something Sheffield is well aware of.Inward investment in the SouthYorkshire city is at its highest level ofinterest in a generation – this against abackdrop of political and economicuncertainty. Sheffield Council’s Cabinet Memberfor Business and Investment, MazherIqbal, argues that the success ofMcLaren, Boeing and the city’s RetailQuarter – read: Meadowhall – as thekey drivers, and now the city’s pipelineof potential new developments is at itshealthiest to date. “If the top 10 current enquiries wereall to be successful it would mean wellover 500,000 square feet of newdevelopment and would create about2,000 jobs,” Mr Iqbal says. “Currentenquiries cover all sectors and rangefrom further ‘blue chip’ names tosmaller overseas innovative businesseswho are keen to be associated withSheffield’s success.”Office investment in Sheffield is alsoseeing record growth. In the firstquarter of 2017, £43.4 million wasinvested in the sector; an increase of623 per cent compared with the sameperiod a year ago. It’s also the highestquarterly investment volume since Q32006. Office leasing activity, meanwhile,reached 69,087 square foot in Q2 2017– 75 per cent ahead of the same periodin 2016.Any discourse of our regionalcommercial property market wouldn’tbe fully reflective of the area withoutincluding Leeds. Our London of thenorth is, perhaps unsurprisingly, in rudehealth as domestic businesses expandtheir presences and national andinternational firms set up shop in thecity. In what is believed to be the city’sbiggest-ever pre-let, the Governmenthas selected Wellington Place as itsnew regional hub in Yorkshire. Theproject will see the construction ofbuildings 7 and 8 from developerMEPC’s master plan to create a state-of-the-art working environment.Scheduled for completion in 2020, thepublic bodies will be welcomed to thethriving business community atWellington Place. The new 377,000square foot building will be fully let on a25 year lease and is expected to bringover 6,000 civil servants to the centre ofLeeds. This in addition to WellingtonPlace’s existing high profile businessoccupiers – including Sky Betting &Gaming, Squire Patton Boggs andShulmans.As evidenced by the influx of inwardinvestment and the slew of newdevelopments and deals taking placeacross Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, ourregional commercial property market isin fine health to weather political andeconomic downturn. PHOTO: MEPCBusiness Link 19Wellington Place, Leeds16-19_Layout 1 03/10/2017 09:22 Page 4Next >