Posts

It's a fascinating point, and something it took me a long time to get my head around. We manage a number Facebook pages on behalf of Trading Standards for our Trusted Trader business. We normally do a daily post, and there is some interaction, but very limited, making us question and investigate from time to time the viability of them.

But they have continually proven a great way to get brand messages out and analysing marketing data from new members, we know they are a great source of new leads, with a lot of lurkers researching the scheme and deciding if it's suitable for them.

Another interesting measurement is this forum, which I concede I have little time to interact as often as I'd like, and in the past have toyed with the idea of closing it just to simply things, but it has an incredible number of lurkers. For example, in the last 30 days it has generated 23,680 page views, yet the actual new post count is very small. The reason why we put so many adverts on is to monetize the lurker traffic, which works incredibly well. (If you are a member, you shouldn't see any adverts). There is zero point putting ugly adverts on pages that don't generate any traffic, so the forum is actually a good little earner. In an ideal world it would be nice to see a lot more engagement and new posters, but I think the heyday of the traditional forum has waned, with bigger platforms such as Quora taking centre stage.

But because it still generates respectable traffic, any new messaging will get a good audience. This is the key to anyone submitting content or devoting time to social media, forums or blogging platforms. Is the effort with the reward? 

Project a positive image of yourself and your business, don't just go in with the tiresome sales pitch. Lurkers are normally looking for something, so let them learn something about you and your business and turn a lurker into a client or contact.

Having that same positive image and reputation across multiple platforms should become part of your blended marketing strategy. The days of constant self-promo "buy my stuff, buy my stuff" posts should be long gone, but a lot of people are still figuring this out.

These type of scams seemed to have rocketed during the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. The phone rings, and it's either Amazon confirming that they are about to take £xyz out of your account and if you want to speak to an adviser, press 1, or a variant of it alledging to be BT, the taxman, your bank and pressing 1 to get a refund/be transferred to the fraud team.

The transfer to 1 is to cut you over to a premium rate number and keep you talking, or it may be to entice you to give away personal information. The frustrating thing is they have gone from very unconvincing and humorous, to actually starting to sound plausible 

My worry is how many older folk or more vulnerable people fallen prey to this. The scam itself has been around for a few years, but it seems to have increased in the last 12 months, particularly as more people sign up or increase their online services, or maybe struggling financially and worry when they receive a call.

Make sure you educate older friends and family to be wary of these calls and if in any doubt, just hang up. If your bank or Amazon is genuinely trying to get I touch with you, they will email/write to you.

If you are concerned or have a relative who may be at risk from this type of call, then think about investing in a call blocker device. 

Chartered Trading Standards Institute points to CRP Call Blocker as the best-selling and most trusted call blocker brand worldwide and is available from Amazon or www.cprcallblocker.com.

Or there is also a good article from Which explaining different call blocking options - How to block nuisance calls

Stay safe and don't let the scammers win 

eh? It's a joke 

Hiya Trena, just saw this, having a forum catchup, between homeschooling, and everyone moaning at me 

I call myself a realistic optimist. There are too many people out there that will happily tell me the world is doomed, everything is a disaster and the situation is hopeless. I rarely post on my personal Facebook because everything is depressing or everyone wants to rant or fight. The media doesn't help, especially rags like the Daily Fail and their hysterical linkbait headlines.

But things will get better, they always do. Question is when.

Vaccines are getting rolled out, to be honest, 100% better than anyone could have predicted based on recent performance!

Of course there will be different strands of the virus, and vaccines may become less effective. But less is different from non effective, and hospitals can cope with some poorly people as opposed to lots of dying people.

By the Spring, all the at risk groups should have been jabbed, so there should be no need for any more lockdowns. The rest of us mere youngsters will be jabbed throughout the year, then when everyone's jabbed, say Nov onwards, it will be a routine annual booster at the docs, like the flu jab. That's my optimist side.

As for realist, the economy cannot sustain indefinite down tools, so the wheels of industry have to be going by the Spring if we stand any chance of recovery in the next 10 years, which as we all know, major recessions tend to be cyclic, so that we will be about time for the next catastrophe

I personally think the lockdown will be a phased lifting, which is already planned with the primary schools in Early March (earlier for Scotland) and then a full lifting by 1 April, which would be quite apt!

If I'm a month out and it's 1 May, I'd be surprised, but that's still Spring

Feel free to reply when it's August and we're still locked down.... 

Likewise sorry to hear that. Check out Rebeccas link (was broken, just updated it), some good stuff on there.

I worry about my kids anxiety and mental wellbeing (and all kids to be honest). It's really tough on them, homeschooling (we try!), but mainly the lack of interaction and community with their peers. The lack of exchanging and sharing ideas. They try over zoom, but it's clunky, ad-hoc and no substitute for real contact.

One of mine is struggling more than the other, which is manifesting itself through temper and losing control. So after a suggestion from someone else, I bought a £15 inflatable punch bag off Amazon with a £12 set of boxing gloves. What a difference, the drill now is rage developing, then head upstairs and batter the bag, which is about 3 times a day 

If it only lasts during lockdown it's money well spent. We also religiously go out for a walk first thing in the morning. Not very far, about a mile around the local village. But after bullying everyone out of the house, we all come back feeling refreshed, relaxed and ready for the day. It just seems to start us off on a more positive mindset.

In the afternoon I tend to go on a decent walk, 8 - 10 miles, just to burn off the frustration (and all the weight I put on from the first 2 lockdowns! )

But me personally I need to get out of the house. Get your headphones on, find an interesting podcast, music, learn a language, anything other than your normal work routine, put any worries aside and burn some energy.

Remember you're not alone and don't believe anyone who says they aren't struggling. 

My mates just recovered after a bad bout of it, he's a bus driver in Swindon. I do wonder when I look at all the empty buses driving round what the point of them is. Maybe they are on a reduced schedule, and the lack of cars makes them see more frequent, but there does seem to be a lot of empty buses trundling round all day long.

But you would think few people would be deliberately confrontational when asked politely to put a mask on, but we know every village has its idiot.

I walked into Tescos on autopilot the other day not wearing a mask. A young female member of staff challenged me straight away, politely but firmly, making feel a right pratt and left me apologising profusely. 

Anyone should have the confidence to confront someone not wearing a mask, as long as it's done politely.

I'm getting tired of Union or leftie led ramblings of its not our job. It's everyone's job. If you are on a bus, it's just a much up to you as a passenger as it is the driver. The virus couldn't give two hoots what is say is in the HR policy or Union guidelines. IMHO 

Sorry a bit late to this one.

The thing that would make me nervous staying as a sole trader would be the risk of liability, particularly with your type of business. So for me personally, I would go the Ltd route. There's no real increase in fees unless you currently do your own books and can file a tax return, and if you stay under £85,000 turnover, you don't need to worry about VAT.

Pay someone else!

It's a secret