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According to the British Chambers of Commerce, if an in-out referendum were to be held tomorrow, 63% of businesspeople would vote to remain in the European Union, 27% would vote to leave, and 10% are unsure.  Yet fully 50% said their vote could change depending on David Cameron’s renegotiation package.

Source: British Chambers of Commerce

It's interesting that one of the key debate issues, open borders and the freedom of movement, something the UK has been arguing against, is now under attack from within the EU itself! It seems every day we see new fences going up and "temporary" border controls getting implemented across EU countries, admittedly at the extreme reaches of the EU.

I wonder if the current migrant crisis will actually strengthen the UK's hand in the EU reform discussions, or give us more bargaining power?

With a small business head on, how would you vote if there was a referendum tomorrow?

Do you think we should leave and go it alone, or stay in the EU but continue to try and change from within?

Are you of the 50% that could be swayed either way depending on how effective Camerons negotiations are?

This is quite a worrying story, especially if you use any of the 79 NHS apps, such as stop smoking, lose weight etc.

According to a story on the beeb:

"Of the total, 70 sent personal data to associated online services and 23 did so without encrypting it.

The study found that four apps sent both personal and health data without protecting it from potential eavesdropping."

BBC - NHS-approved apps found 'leaking' ID data

It seems our data isn't safe anywhere these days, form mobile phone companies flogging your data and now poor security from organisations that should know better

Courtesy of Facebook

I knew if I waited long enough the 80's would come back 

Just been listening to the new Squeeze record, heard the new AHA one earlier and I hear ELO are releasing one.

Finally, I'm cool and trendy again 

Love it.

"Spot the difference" could be in your post, (advert text area) so not actually in the image.

Make the URL's shorter? maybe just shoes.com versus shoos.com

I think it makes the word and typo more obvious. But maybe just me. Can I charge a consultancy fee? 

I think everyone on the planet is aware of the VW story, ie manipulating diesel car emissions tests in the States.

But the thing I find fascinating is the thought process behind it all. Did they really think they would get away with it, and how far up the food chain did it go to get approved?

Was it a meeting of engineers? Struggling to get the emissions down on an engine, when the new apprentice says for a joke, "I know, why don't we just fake it with some clever software, ha ha.."

"Klaus, zat idea is vonderbar, you are promoted to head engineer". At what point did the engineers, line manager, senior manager think, hmm that's wrong, illegal and we will all end up in hot water?

Is it a case of a business believing them to be so big that the rules don't apply to them? Is it just executive level arrogance?

Not seen the news since the headlines this morning, but if he hasn't already, I assume the CEO will be soon marched out the door, no doubt with a few more high profile dismissals.

Then at some level, no doubt quite senior, there will be a suitable scapegoat who will be thrown to the wolves, and spend the next 5 years tied up in court cases and eventually end up in jail.

Then a massive PR/propaganda campaign of executives who are flabbergasted and were completely unaware the practice took place, and the company will learn from its mistakes and move on. Assuming the long term damage isn't critical in which case we will see a rescue package is launched to save the worlds number 1 car maker from bankruptcy.

Sound familiar? Looks like big business arrogance has moved on from the banking industry and moved to the automotive 

Imagine a small business applying the same work ethics and practices?

There's always one 

Just seen some great ones on The Ridiculous Business Jargon Dictionary

Address [v.] Used as a replacement for 'do', 'tackle', or 'complete', this word nicely avoids making a commitment to which the speaker can be held accountable. "I will address all of your concerns in the upcoming weeks."

Aggressive mediocrity[n.] A conscious effort to ensure that the bare minimum, and nothing more, is achieved.

At the end of the day[exp.] The speaker would like you to know that he has a profound understanding about what is important and what is not.

Availability [n.] A convenient way of separating the individual from the ability to manage her own time. "I'd love to come, but I'm not sure about my availability, grandma."

But my favourite

Assmosis [v.] The apparent absorption of success that comes from sucking up.

Recognise a few of them, so shall try harder to be jargon free 

Anyone spot anything missing from this picture?

Above the Fold

Builders Warwick is a standard search I use when doing some search engine testing, and the above image shows the results above the fold (ie before you need to start scrolling) on a standard screen. It is an anonymous search, opposed to the personalised results you may see, depending if you are logged into a Google account, had a recent Google cookie etc.

Google is very vocal about the user experience and limiting the number of adverts above the fold. Bit it seems it doesn't follow it's own rules though, as all you can see in the above example is sponsor ad's, or Google Adwords results to be more precise.

The map you can see is part of the new layout for the Google local listings (or map listings, or whatever they are called these days), but you still need to scroll to see any links for them, plus they have now had their phone numbers removed, which a lot of SEO commentators predict will mean fewer leads for small business owners.

Below the Fold

Finally under the map listings, once you have scrolled, you get to the organic listings.

You can then see 4 organic listings at the bottom of the page. In this example, Yell gets the top spot, with mybuilder getting spots 2 and 3.

Conclusion

You probably get enough emails from SEO peeps promising you the world and guaranteeing you number 1 in Google. Now it looks like Google has another idea, pay for it 

In this example, to generate any real return if you needed to show up for this search term would be to pay for a Google Adwords PPC campaign.

Now this is only 1 search, and depending on how and where you search will dictate the results you will see. Plus Google is continually experimenting with layout and tinkering with the search results. But sometimes I think it would be nice to return to the good old list of 10 organic results.

Or would it?

What do you think? Has the regular Google upheaval and tweaking of the search results over the last couple of years impacted the number of leads from Google, or the way you conduct marketing? If so was it for the better or worse?

Maybe it has improved your marketing and ROI, or has it caused you continual confusion and headaches?

As a user, do you like the new Google layout, or do you think there are too many PPC adverts?

I'm going to swim against the tide on this one 

Never been a fan of freebie website builders or ones that offer templates and you limited ability to change or customise. CMS platforms like wordpress, joomla etc are great and allow you to build superb sites, but unless you download someone else's theme, and are happy making all the changes yourself, setting up SEO plugins, tuning etc etc, you will end up needing a web designer. 

Most people these days will say a website is critical for business. But is it?

Looking at your own feedback, why squander precious time, resources and budget on a shiny website if your current marketing methods are generating business. A website needs to be managed and updated, it's needs to be found. Shiny websites with no visitors are as useful as chocolate teapots.

Facebook seems to be a good vehicle for you (business buzz word alert ) so why not capitalise on it. You have some ideas marketing wise to play on images with a typo, no reason why these couldn't be embedded into other articles or other networking sites, linking back to your facebook page. 

You've also got good reviews on there, and your FB page shows up as number 2 if I google "pay for precision" as well as your Google panel on the right hand side. Add some reviews to your Google page, capitalise on your FB page. Google sometimes shows review stars for FB pages now as well. 

Other than vanity, what extra will a website bring?

If you were looking to optimise for a specific keywords with an SEO strategy etc, then a web site would be essential, as would a budget. But I think you would be more effective adopting your current community/social marketing style IMHO.