PostsRip up your Tax disc from 1 October ! 1st October 2014 9:58 AM Well I never! Car tax is up this month, so no more tax disc for me Bit of a swizzy con though about the double taxing if that's right So I can't sell a car with 6 months tax on it? I have to claim the tax back, and the new buyer then has to tax the vehicle? Ebay and Paypal get divorced - any impact for users? 1st October 2014 9:51 AM
Looking at different news reports, the decision seems to have been prompted by a strategic review, with competition increasing for Paypal with the release of Apples new mobile payment system, Apple Pay. More interestingly, the current ebay CEO is stepping down and won't be holding an executive position at ebay or Paypal. Maybe a boardroom revolt? But what about users? I'm assuming once Paypal formally separates in 2015 and is a publicly traded company, it will cease to have any formal links with ebay, although no doubt there will be some kind of legacy contract to be the payment provider of choice for ebay. But in theory they could change the charging structure for ebay. For Paypal users who don't use ebay, then I doubt you will see any change, but it could be good news as Paypal will be free to compete and develop as it see fit. Maybe competition from other providers will see lower Paypal charges? So Paypal users will notice little change at least in the short term, but it does beg the question about ebay. Has the auction giant passed it's peak? It bought Paypal for $1.5bn in 2002 as a bolt on payment processor, but Paypal has just grown and grown. Once free of ebay, it will be able to explore fresh markets and grow, with some pundits predicting it will dwarf ebay in years to come. So do we have any regular ebayers? What do you think? Anyone got any thoughts on the marriage break up? Offering "Google my business" Questions for free 29th September 2014 12:08 PM Hi Skyler There's still a lot of us wading through the fall out of the old Places listings and having to create new Google Plus listings, so we can show Google reviews. Do you know if there there is anything in the pipeline or is it possible to merge 2 Google+ listings, one which was a previous non maps one, and a new maps one. The older listing is more established and has more followers, so ideally it would be nice to merge the old one with the new one. New one: https://plus.google.com/+MyLocalServicesAlcester/posts Old one: https://plus.google.com/+MylocalservicesCoUk/posts The old one, although verified will no longer accept any updates such as phone number of description. But I don't want to delete it as it still shows in the SERPs, see below:
Ideally merging both pages would be great, but stumped how to achieve it. Any ideas? Google Page1 for Grumpy Clive 29th September 2014 11:44 AM
“Did you know this post isnt page 1 any more? It's been knocked off by the Grumpy Clive makes it to 45 post which I thoughts was pretty funny
 ”Looking from here, it looks like we've lost pole position. Somebody moaning on Tripadvisor and Twitter?
After years of inactivity we've slid to number 3 Maybe a few keywords will do the trick. Grumpy Clive Clive is Grumpy Clive now glaring at me and getting grumpier as I say this out loud... Yahoo Directory is to close 29th September 2014 11:28 AM Was just reading this story on Search Engine Land So the good old Yahoo Directory is finally going to get shut down at the end of this year. Years ago the Yahoo Directory was a must have choice, as it was a human edited list of websites and there was a $250 submission fee, payable regardless or not if you were accepted! I think the last time we paid was about 2009, but noticed our link has remained over the years, and used to be a good way of generating a quality link. So with Yahoo dumping its directory and outsourcing all of its search expertise to Bing, I wonder what springs to mind now when you say Yahoo? What exactly are they now? UKIP - Political Party or a marketing master-class? 29th September 2014 9:54 AM
“You kip if you want to; the rest of us are going to fight and win."
How can anyone not like Boris when he comes out with stuff like that I could never see him as a party leader, but his popular following and allegiance must be welcome in this UKIP battleground. To me Boris seems as a good counter to Farage, and agree Milliband and even Cameron seem to be uncomfortable trying to compete with Farage's laid back relaxed style, making them come over as stale and old fashioned. The likes of Boris and Farage are certainly going to make for an interesting Election campaign, which may be the key to undoing some of the entrenched voter apathy shown at previous elections. We just need a decent Labour character for this punch and judy style of politics. Ed Balls? UK set to join Isis airstrikes 26th September 2014 2:29 PM Well the UK Government debate is under way and consensus seems to be overwhelmingly in favour of military action. Looks like the UK public is being prepared for a long campaign rather quick surgical action. Grant Whiskey ditches traditional product led marketing 26th September 2014 1:44 PM With recent news that Vodka has overtaken Whiskey sales, William Grant and Sons are targeting a younger audience for it's Grants Scotch Whiskey in a bid to reverse falling sales. Out go the traditional images and marketing campaigns, and in with Social Media campaigns, using the #IOU hash tag and looking at spreading word of mouth via organic content. People sharing can see their images on Grants website - #IOU Toast Gallery So looking at their new video and the social sharing angle, what do you think? Have Grants got it right? Is there stuff we can all learn from this? Who is going to follow Sir Richard and let staff come and go as they want? 26th September 2014 11:51 AM
It seems the inspiration came from Netflix who seemed to have pioneered this approach and Bransons daughter suggested he try it himself. At first it sounds ridiculous, especially those of us previously conditioned to large company mentality and processes. But if you take a step back and analyse it, it starts to make sense, especially for small business owners. There are few business owners who simply work a Mon - Fri 9-5 day, although there will be plenty of employees. But imagine if you could recruit the type of people who share a similar work ethic and passion. Those employees who go the extra mile and would do extra work if required to get the job done, rather than being stitched. Then maybe reward them not only financially, but allow them to organise their own working day. If someone is burning the midnight oil for you, and there is no impact if they come in late, then let work flexibly. If someone needs some urgent time off and can rearrange their schedule, and will make up the hours at a later date then why not? Suitable for everyone? Now there are obvious pitfalls, if you are a plumber or run a retail shop, then staff may need to work specific hours. Also it doesn't suit everyone. A large chunk of the working population are plodders, come in, do their job and go home. No problems with that, we can't survive without plodders. But for senior staff or filling important roles such as marketing etc, what a great incentive to attract the right kind of people. I can't see this policy getting rolled out across the Virgin Group, I'd imagine it would be selective and job role related, but certainly an interesting concept. Richard Branson being Richard Branson has turned this idea into an obvious marketing opportunity to peddle his latest book, but if you want to hear more about it, you can read it on his blog. So any converts to letting staff come and go as they please? Unmanned Drones - Google & Amazon beaten by DHL! 26th September 2014 11:19 AM Well DHL have pulled off a bit of a coup by beating Google and Amazon into using a scheduled unmanned ariel drone service. Fascinating stuff, and DHL are conducting a month long trial delivering medicine to a remote German Island. Google is set to be a big player in this arena, along with Amazon who have a vision of delivering products 30 minutes after ordering! It won't be Santa coming down the chimney, but a knackered Amazon drone Looks like it won't be long though before Drones become commonplace, as the US Federal Aviation Administration has given permission to 6 TV and Movie firms to use drones for filming. No doubt local Police Forces will be using them, then factor in local delivery companies, the sky above us is set to get quite busy. Self driving cars, automated drones, starting to feel like science fiction! |
So if you haven't heard, the ebay board has decided to separate it's ebay and Paypal business into separate companies after pressure from investors, particularly a major shareholder called Carl Icahn. An interesting development when the ebay CEO said back in January this wouldn't happen!
Time for a link building campaign! 
Sir Richard Branson was widely reported yesterday in letting his own staff, about 170 bods sort out their own time off, relaxing any holiday policies, in effect letting staff take as much holiday as they like.
