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So the office broadband this morning is behaving very oddly, with some sites working fine, and others intermittent or unresponsive (inlcuding some of our own sites).

It turns out our provider, British Telecom has been targeted and someones been ripping up their copper cables!

So if you are a BT user, have phone or broadband problems, then thats why!

You can check their status page with the latest updates...
Service status | Help | BT Business

Unfortunately it's a common tactic these days to try and save a failing business. A token sale of

So when are you running for PM, and when can I vote?

That's a fair point, but how do you counter that?

The only major UK high street player now is Curry's. So if you want to easily touchy feely a washing machine, cooker or widescreen TV, you go to Currys. But do you then google it to get the best price elsewhere?

If that's the case, then surely it's only a matter of time before Currys goes pop? Or can Currys compete with the online retailers better than what Comet did?

I'm not sure they can? Then what happens? Everything is bought online? Or maybe a return to specialised bricks and mortar shops rather superstores?

Wonder how long Currys will last or how they will address this issue?

If you have no idea what structured data is, and you are responsible for advertising a site online, then the chances are, sooner or later you will have to get to grips with it.

Structured data, rich snippets, microformats, opengraph etc is the technique of presenting data in a way that Google can pull information and display extra info in it's search results. eg: Below is a Google search of "free CV". The top 2 results are using structured data.


I've been a big fan of it for a long time, and it works.

But it's good to get another viewpoint on it, and there is a very interesting article on structured data and the future, which even pinpoints Googles potential downfall, and if we carry on using structured data, makes it easier for a start up that can manipulate and read this data, to give us the next major search engine!

As I'm finding out, content scrapers are already using this to their advantage, so maybe structured data is not the way forward?

It's a long one, but if this is something that interests you or you want to learn about, it's worth reading.
Structured Data Markup Was Inevitable, But Is It An Admission Of Failure?

Have you tried the tips earlier in the thread?

If you follow, like, comment or reshare other pins, this does seem to be a good way to encourage followers.

I'll grant you it's not that quick, but it's a start

A familiar name on the UK highstreet went into administration yesterday, but has struggled for a long time.

BBC News - Comet retailer to go into administration

Interesting reading the article on the beeb, that Comet was bought for a token

I've heard a few people mention gum, and it certainly worked for me, starting on nicorette, then moving to plain old wrigleys gum.

Downside is, years later, I am addicted to wrigleys and break out in a sweat if I don't have any. I know over chewing gum is supposed to cause ulcers, but this seems a better trade in my book rather than smoking, or moving to chocolate!

I guess it depends on the audience.

Is this for existing or previous customers, or completely cold contacts?

[CODE][/CODE]
I think a lot of it is a generation thing. I watched my Grandad limp along on 1/4 of a lung, permanently attached to an oxygen tank and still puffing away with minimal quality of life and waiting to die. It shocked me into stopping, but not my dad who still puffs away, is now starting to get health problems and has used the same argument for the last 10 years, "well it's too late for me, and I enjoy it".

Hopefully the cycle is now broken and my kids won't start...

So stick with it, inspire your kids and break the cycle