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As a remainer (or remoaner) I'm no fan of Brexit, but it's happened, we're stuck with it, so lets try and make it work.

But is anyone else fed up with the constant negativity and doom and gloom coming from the media channels? According to the media we are sliding towards economic oblivion  and Armageddon. There seems to be little cross party unity or even government unity.

Have we become architects of our own economic downfall or is it just the usual media hype hunting for headlines? 

Yell.com announced a few days ago the long anticipated news that it is killing off the printed Yellow Pages book.

It's had a good 51 year run and most of us have grown up with the big Yellow book, albeit in declining sizes over the years. It used to be great for holding doors open, but recent versions in our house inevitably go straight to the recycle bin.

But regardless of the criticism over the years, high costs, aggressive sales tactics etc, it has also generated a good return for a lot of companies and been a solid source of leads and new business.

With the internet inevitably claiming directory search, there is still a market segment that prefers printed directory pages. Even with the silver surfer revolution, there are still a lot of elderly people out there that don't use the internet, plus a lot of areas where the UK broadband coverage is well below par and the Yellow Book is a quick and easy way to find a plumber when water is pouring through the ceiling. 

So with Yell announcing the last editions of Yellow Pages, could this be a unique opportunity to have your details in a directory that could arguably sit on someones shelf for years to come, with no renewal fees or fear of being replaced by your new younger competitor?

What do you think a genuine opportunity? Farewell with fondness or good riddance to marketing tactics of yesteryear?

Unhappy Royal Mail Business Customer 6th September 2017 12:11 PM
Does anyone from Royal Mail who could resolve the issues ever access this forum?”
 
I'm afraid not, probably worried about getting lynched 

 

Leaflet wording 6th September 2017 12:07 PM
I know it's a lot to take in at first but practice- and monitoring responses to help you test, tweak and refine- will make perfect. 
 

Some great tips there, good post 

Business permit Ice cream business 6th September 2017 11:48 AM

Talk to your local council.

Are keys slowly becoming out of date.. 6th September 2017 11:36 AM

There's always the counter argument - security!

Great article from Wired - The Hotel Hacker. How someone exploited a vulnerability in hotels electronic locks and went on a crime spree. The vulnerability impacted loads of well known brands such as Hilton 

Are you in the Cloud! 17th August 2017 11:06 AM
So, you are saying whether the person is able to use the internet or not, they will need to pay for broadband to have a house phone!

.....But they will have no choice but to pay for something they don't need, just to get a phone line. If that's the case it is disgusting! Society forgets about the older generation when it comes to technology. 

Don't fix what aint broke, as the saying goes.”

 

Hi Toots, thanks for the response.

Nothing is going to happen overnight, this is a gradual process. But the reality is the infrastructure of this country is broke and really does need fixing

We are talking about copper wire technology that is well past it's sell by date. My old house in Warwick was in an area where the whole phone infrastructure for that housing estate was in full decay. BT wagons were a common sight and after countless complaining the simple answer was there was little BT could do, and this was going back 15 years.

Technology evolves, older technologies degrade and become redundant. I've no doubt when the eventual time arrives for the POTS network to be switched off for good  and consigned to history, that there will be a facility to ensure everyone has access to a simple phone service.

I'm sure there will be a low cost/subsidised service for the elderly and vulnerable, which in reality will probably work out cheaper than it does now with no call costs and no line rental. If there isn't, then Age Concern and similar will soon start shouting and lobbying government. I've no idea about government policy but I would have thought ensuring everyone has adequate and affordable access to communications before the POTS switch off would be a requirement.

Remember a computer wouldn't be needed and the phone will look and operate exactly the same as their current one does now. The fact their would be so much extra functionality available if needed is a bonus, meaning family members could configure and set up monitoring services, alerts, voice activated, in fact the options and potential are endless.

Does that allay any fears or are you still sceptical?

My question is, does https take precedence over http when using google ? Should I change my websites to https as a matter of principle?  ”
 
Googles search index algorithm is comprised of 200+ signals. HTTPS is just one of them. The amount of weight it carries varies depending who you talk to but only Google can tell you for sure.
 
What we do know is Google is focused on the web consumer experience and it has been very vocal about speed, security and relevant content relating to a users search query.
 
HTTPS addresses security so it's going to be an important signal.  But page load times particularly for the mobile first world we are moving to are also very important.
 
Visit Googles speed test page, compare your website and then your competition. Personally I would address these issues before moving to HTTPS.
 
Then look at the usual ranking factors, build some good quality links, active social media presence. I'd also question the need for multiple websites advertising the same service. If it was me, I'd consolidate and concentrate on promoting one site.
 
So to answer your question, don't change to HTTPS as a matter of principle, change to HTTPS as part of an ongoing an coordinated marketing plan. Your competition may look more amateur than your website in your eyes, but if it loads quicker, is more secure, and Google deems it to be returning relevant content for relevant search results, then that's why it will out rank you. 
 
But never tinker, always sit down and plan any changes. Near the top of page 1 is infinitely better than the top of page 4 
 
Hope that helps.
Found  solution to the image ,albeit a lot of work by adding a S into every product ,already done Bar-ware so it passes why no padlock now  .Have added the https to google to start search for the links ,although not sure if they will , but time will tell ”
 

The reason you don't have a padlock is because you are still referencing unsecured elements in your web page, eg:

Have a chat with your hosting bods. None of it is major, it just needs them to go through your site and remove any http dependencies. 

Jumping in too .. Should I leave my website as it is then with all products being http but sign up, log in and payment sections being https..”
 

To be honest Andy, that doesn't make much sense. If you have already gone to the expense of a certificate and are already using https for part of your site, you might as well use it for all of your site and get any associated benefits. But as above don't suddenly just redirect everything.

To make your site www.pewterworld.co.uk fully https, you have a bit of work to do as you are currently in a halfway house. eg you can access your home page as https://www.pewterworld.co.uk/

But the rest of your site isn't ready as you have content on your pages which is pulling from a non secure source eg:

https://www.pewterworld.co.uk/Jewellery/Pendants/Celtic-Heart-Pendant-1

This page is insecure as it it references an image that is specifically coming from a http source:

The source of this is: http://www.pewterworld.co.uk/images/Delivery/4-7days.JPG

To fix this, you would instead just reference: /images/Delivery/4-7days.JPG

So you would need to make sure any absolute paths that point to http sources are changed for all of your product pages and the whole website.

You already have the canonical tag, eg:

<link rel="canonical" href="http://www.pewterworld.co.uk/Jewellery/Pendants/Celtic-Heart-Pendant-1" />

So when ready, change this from http to https.

Once you were happy Google had re-indexed all of your pages as https, you can then redirect all of your pages to https.

Obviously this is my fag packet research, so although I don't think it would be a big deal for you to move fully to https, don't go and implement a site wide https plan based on this post  

Make sure you sit down and plan it properly with your hosting partner/web bod.

Remember the 6 P's - Proper Planning Prevents P*** Poor Performance