60 Days ’til Christmas: Get Business Ready for the Festive Season
As the calendar inches closer to December, businesses brace for the most hectic time of the year: the festive season. ‘Tis the time for gift-giving, carol-singing and — for online companies — Christmas offers a golden opportunity for shining brighter than the major rivals. With this in mind, let’s unwrap a few festive tips for getting the most out of the build up to Christmas this year. Christmas Comes Early Santa seems to show up just that little bit earlier each and every year. Once a mere three-or-four week window of December, the Christmas shop is now a multi-month affair. One reason for this has been the rise of so-called “Mega Sale Days”. In the US, Black Friday and Cyber Weekend kickstart a shopping frenzy on the Friday and Monday after Thanksgiving. Black Friday has gained a lot of headway on this side of the pond now, too, and particularly when it comes to online retail. The dying embers of Guy Fawkes Night might be an even earlier cue for the Christmas countdown in the UK. We’re certainly eager to get a head start when it comes to finding our ideal gifts. According to Statista’s 2022 UK Christmas Shopping data, over half of UK adults said they would begin their Christmas shop before the 1st of December, while 16% said they would be done by that date already. Many of us start even earlier. Retail sales for October have grown every year since 2017, while RCS UK data suggests that 40% of British consumers now begin their Christmas shopping in October — long before the Halloween pumpkins have been rolled away. And the slice for online shopping only keeps growing: £30 billion in online Christmas sales last year compared to £52 billion in bricks and mortar. Scrooge The cost of living crisis is likely to pinch this Christmas. Don’t let that dampen your spirits, but do consider it in your sales and marketing strategy. Last December, 79% of consumers said they aimed to buy fewer gifts, while 73% stated they were searching for cheaper alternatives. This year, 45% of UK adults have said they plan to cut their holiday spending, according to The Retail Times. That amounts to about £13 billion in total. 26% of respondents to the same survey said they’ll set aside less than £300 for all Christmas spending this year. While it’s true the high-end luxury market tends to remain unaffected, inflation is high and most will be hunting for value. It might be a good strategy to put more bang-for-buck in the Christmas cracker. Making the Christmas List Begin by setting your goals and defining what you aim to achieve during this festive period. Whether that’s increasing sales, generating leads, growing a customer base, or boosting brand awareness on the whole. Set the objectives to guide your entire Christmas plan. Keep an eye on Black Friday on November 24th. No longer just an American thing, this day kickstarts the unofficial festive shopping frenzy across much of the world. It can be a good barometer for the upcoming December trends, plus a smart time to offer vouchers and deals valid to the end of the year and beyond. ❝Black Friday can be a good barometer for upcoming December trends, plus a smart time to offer vouchers and deals valid to the end of the year and beyond.❞ It’s not just about keeping up with the holiday rush: this is a great opportunity to build a strategy for long-term customer loyalty and a steady revenue stream year-round. ✓ Establish a roadmap. Early planning and scheduling of core promotions can be a lifesaver during the busy holiday season. This empowers you to free up more of your time without causing any disruption or delay to your core activities. ✓ Create Your Content Calendar. Plan your holiday-themed content, blog posts, and social media updates. This will help you stay organised and ensure a consistent and festive online presence that captivates your audience. ✓ Do your research. Take a peek at what your competitors were doing last year. Analysing their strategies can provide valuable insights and inspiration. You might also wish to take a look at analytics within your online channels, such as Google Analytics. ✓ Money Matters. Prepare a budget that covers all your Christmas expenses, including marketing, additional staff, and stocking up on inventory. Allocate resources wisely to make the most of your festive campaigns. ✓ Work out your product and inventory strategy. Make sure you have the right products in stock to meet the holiday demand. Identify popular seasonal items and ensure you’re well-stocked to meet consumer demand. ✓ Reflect on last year. What worked well? What could have been better? Learning from your own past experiences (a little ‘elf examination) will help you build to success this time around. Oh, and if you don’t have a website already, you might look to put a good domain name on your Christmas list. There’s thousands to choose from. When you’re ready, it’s easy to build an online presence with Website Builder. Christmas Branding A festive branding makeover is more than slapping on a few snowflakes. It’s snow joke: your website needs to breathe the holiday spirit, from product images right down to the copy of product descriptions and promotions. This all works to put customers in the festive mood and shows that your business is current, attentive, ready for business — and ready for Christmas. If you’re looking for a quick and easy way of creating a professional website, there’s no better place to start than with our Website Builder. You’ll easily find the themes to spruce up this Christmas. ✓ Think of creative ways to stand out. Get creative with a welcoming theme with festive spirit. Infuse your website with the warmth and magic of the season through captivating visuals, cheerful colours, and eye-catching graphics. ✓ Showcase your top-selling Christmas products and the best holiday gifts prominently on your website. Tailor your website’s language to
How to Create a Free Business Email Address (in 4 Ways)
Are you still sending out business emails with that old Hotmail account? It could be time to switch from a personal email to a new professional email address. Once you’re up and running with a website, switching to a business email — one that matches your site’s domain name — is an easy shift, but a really impactful one to make. Having your own shows customers who you are and what you do. A business email address has the potential to raise your brand image and let everyone know that you are a pro. By Will Stevens. With contributions from Joanne Dewberry. What is a professional email address? Custom professional email address use a business’s website name after the @ sign (for example: yourname@123-reg.co.uk) rather than a generic one, such as Hotmail.com or yahoo.com. You can use this address for all sort of things including email marketing, customer service and more. Why you should use a custom email address When you first start a small business, brand identity is one of the most important aspects to consider. Branding is so much more than a gorgeous logo; it encompasses your core values and ethos, alongside the colours you choose, and images — whether branding images or in the products you sell. You need to take into consideration every aspect of how your business is portrayed online. Having a custom business email address is such an important factor. A branded business email is important for anyone doing online business. Using Yahoo! or another generic provider name may convey a less-than-positive image to customers. First impressions count. A custom business email address is a key component in streamlining your branding. It’s the same principle whether you’re trying to sell electrical goods, running a plumbing business, or running a cafe: a bad email address makes it very difficult to gain trust. People may even ignore you altogether — especially if they don’t recognise who the email is coming from, or if it ends up in the spam folder. Switching to a custom business email address is one of the best steps you can take to boost your credibility and help with your branding. Your email address in three parts We get so used to seeing them that we lose sight of their significance, but a good email address can help you stand out from the crowd. There are three core parts to consider for making a custom business email address that works: ✓ The username: This identifies a specific person (ie joanne@123-reg.co.uk) or group. You will have probably noticed that most businesses create a generic identifier such as hello@, support@, info@, or help@. This level of personalisation means you can create a variety of email addresses either for each member of staff or for specific tasks whereby numerous staff members have access to one inbox based purely on the email needs of your small business. ✓ The @: Connects the person or salutation (such as hello@, info@) to the domain that follows it. ✓ The domain name: This is determined by the email account, host, or client (i.e., gmail.com, hotmail.com, or in the case of creating a custom professional email your unique business domain name ie. 123-reg.co.uk Put it all together, and you have info@123-reg.co.uk or help@123-reg.co.uk, for example. What’s a domain name? A domain name is the unique, easy-to-remember address which you use to access any website. It comes directly after www. and is your identity online. The best email address for a professional email is an email that includes your business domain. Ideally, your domain name contains your business names or fits your business — for example, B&Q’s domain name is www.diy.com. Although it doesn’t include the business name, it is quickly and easily identifiable and easy to share and promote. Four ways to set up a free business email address It’s always good to get things for free, so here are four ways you can set up a free business email address. Remember that if you wish a free custom email address from 123 Reg, you will have to buy a qualifying product. If you’re already a 123 Reg customer, be sure not to miss out! Here’s how you can set up a free business email account. 1. Use the 123 Reg Website Builder If you create your site with the 123 Reg Website Builder, you’ll get five free email address on the Online Shop Starter and Online Shop Standard plans. If you’re using our Online Shop, you’ll get five free email addresses. 2. Buy 123 Reg hosting package All our Web Hosting, WordPress Hosting and Premium Hosting packages come with the option to set up multiple free business email accounts. Check the details of your plan to see if it entitles you to an email address. 3. Buy Microsoft 365 from 123 Reg Microsoft 365 comes with a full range of productivity tools and a free custom email address. This is a great option if you need an email address as well as tools like Office 365, Excel and more. Bonus option: 123 Reg Email Hosting If you don’t own a 123 Reg product that comes with a free professional email address, you can use 123 Reg Email Hosting. (You’ll still need to have your own domain name to set up your email address.) Need more than one email address for your business? Give our team a call on 0330 221 1007 and we’ll be happy to help? How to set up your 123 Reg business email address If you have a 123 Reg product that comes with a free email address, or you’re using 123 Reg Email Hosting, you can set up your account through your Control Panel. Scroll down to the Email section and select Manage email. On the next page, click Create and then select Mailbox. You can then create your business email address. You’ll need to decide what you want the bit before the @ of your email address to be and, if you have more than
Impact your business and join us for the Festival of Female Entrepreneurs
On Thursday 22nd October, 123-reg will be one of four headline sponsors of the annual Festival for Female Entrepreneurs, held at Colston Hall in Bristol. The event, run and managed by our good friends at Enterprise Nation, will play host to a day of information, education and inspiration that will help SMEs take their business to the next level. What is the Festival of Female Entrepreneurs? The event, run and managed by our good friends at Enterprise Nation, will play host to a day of information, education and inspiration that will help SMEs take their business to the next level. The Festival of Female Entrepreneurs takes place at Colston Hall in Bristol on Thursday 22 October. Access to the exhibition and networking space is completely free. Access to the networking area is £20, which will give you access to keynote talks and practical workshops from the UK’s leading female entrepreneurs and experts. There are only 250 tickets available for the keynotes and workshops so be sure to bag yours before they run out! Harnessing entrepreneurial spirit 123-reg is very proud to support the festival, especially when considering the growing numbers of females involved in start-ups in the UK. A report by the Office for National Statistics showed the number of self-employed women has increased by 34 per cent since 2009. By way of comparison over the past five years, the number of self-employed men has risen by just 15 per cent. Enterprise Nation’s 2014 Home Business Report found that of the 2.9 million homepreneurs in the UK, 64 per cent of them were women – equating to around 1.7 million women running businesses from home, contributing an estimated £180 billion to the British economy alone. What we have on offer The event which will be packed full of educative content aimed directly at SMEs will see 123-reg CMO, Kate Cox, deliver her top tips on how to start small businesses online. Additionally 123-reg SEO specialist, Roxana Stingu, will deliver a 30-minute workshop on the basics of SEO and the top tips for how small businesses looking to increase their rankings online. Additionally, 123-reg will have a presence at the event and will be on hand to help businesses get the answers they need to improve their online presence. For those that attend the event, we will be offering a free .com domain name with a free WordPress hosting or Website Builder package. The event has grown to become a mainstay of the South West’s business event landscape. Last year the event attracted over 700 attendees. For more information and to book your tickets, simply head to https://www.enterprisenation.com/festival So whether you have just set up your business or are looking for inspiration, the Festival of Female Entrepreneurs will have something for you. We look forward to meeting you! Join the social conversation using #FFE15
Is your website host expecting the unexpected?
In business reliability matters, but it’s an unfortunate fact that some things are out of your hands. Companies inevitably have to put their trust in others in order to operate successfully. It might be the courier service that takes your product to the customer, or the electricity supplier that keeps your computers running; whatever sector you’re in, no business stands alone. But a chain is only as strong as its weakest link and if one of the companies you rely on encounters problems, it can stop you providing a top class service leading to lost customers and lost income. Although you can’t completely protect yourself against such occurrences, you can mitigate them by placing your trust in the right partners. Here at 123-reg we know how much our customers rely on their websites to generate business and attract customers – that’s why we take steps to ensure the unforeseen doesn’t lead to your company going offline. Preparing for the unknown Take our core name servers, which are located in two separate data centres in Leeds, England and Cologne, Germany. On the face of it, that seems like an insignificant fact, but in practice this set up means that if one of our data centres is hit by a power cut, or worse, then the other one can take up the slack so your website will stay online. When a website host runs all its name servers out of one location and something goes wrong, websites go offline meaning businesses are left hanging until the issue is resolved. In short, businesses and website owners, big and small, can trust 123-reg to keep them online because we’re prepared for the unexpected.
The future is here: FREE Cloud Webinar 7th August 2013
Are you considering moving to the cloud? Over the past decade, cloud computing has revolutionised the IT industry with new innovations emerging on an almost daily basis. A recent Spiceworks global state of small and medium-sized enterprises survey found that 48% of respondents were using cloud services. For small businesses, the rewards of the revolution are vast. For this reason, on Wednesday 7th August 2013, 123-reg hosts it first interactive webinar with Daniel Hagemeier, our head of Cloud business unit. Daniel will shed light on all you need to know about Cloud. In this webinar, Daniel will cover: what Cloud actually is the technology underlying Cloud how your business can benefit from using a Cloud server Whether you are a Director or an IT Professional, there is something in the webinar for you! The full details of this FREE webinar are as follows: Topic: An introduction to Cloud Server and the underlying technology Date and time: 3pm (BST), Wednesday 7th August 2013 Panellist: Daniel Hagemeier, Head of 123-reg Cloud BU To register simply click here
6 ways to help start up Britain
Today is StartUp Britain’s #STARTUPDAY! Their aim is to celebrate the ever-increasing contribution that start-ups make to the British economy and we think that’s a pretty good thing to be celebrating. The StartUp Britain bus, has been travelling the nation spreading entrepreneurial spirit for the last four weeks since we saw it at Youth Enterprise Live. It arrives at the British Library for the next couple of days so if you are in London, get along. There are also a series of events being organised by StartUp Britain Local Champions. Whether you can make an organised event or not though, here’s six ways you could play your part in getting the British economy going once again: 1. Help a start-up If you are not a start-up yourself that doesn’t mean you can’t be involved. Just giving your business to a new start-up goes a long way to helping them develop as a business. Better still if you have some business skills why not offer them about for free. Networking is key in the current business world and if you can do a favour for a startup who knows where it may lead. 2. Fund a start-up Finance, or lack of it, is probably the biggest barrier facing would be entrepreneurs at present yet there are more and more innovative schemes offering people the chance to link and find investment and others find investable opportunities. The trendy way is via a crowdfunding scheme where businesses invite interested people to invest relative small sums in their projects in return for small gifts or the like. Recently US-success Kickstarter launched its UK specific site but there are plenty of others like CrowdCube and WeFund if you can’t find a suitable project to invest in at first. 3. Start a start-up Feeling empowered and inspired? Launching your own start-up needn’t be as daunting as it sounds. There is plenty of advice and guidance available on the StartUp Britain site and here at 123-reg we have solutions for a whole range of online operations whatever your technical knowledge. 4. Donate a product or service Money is tight for everyone, but if you can donate something that is already part of your own offerings you can minimise that cost also boost your own customer base. Getting an up and coming business using your services or products can be a great way to increase your own brand awareness too as they are more likely to pick up some press coverage than your own business if you have been going longer, it’s the nature of the beast. The recipient will no doubt be more than grateful and keen to recognise you and name-check in any interviews too. 5. Mentor a new business If you really want to help a business grow into a success, giving them the benefit of your wisdom and experience is the greatest gift you can give. We’ve all made mistakes in business and helping others avoid those is not only rewarding for you but also benefits the growing business. Being a mentor needn’t be massively time-consuming either. Often it is just being on the end of a line for a second opinion or as a sounding post. A mentor doesn’t interfere with the other person’s business either, you are there to share knowledge, skills, information and put it all in perspective. The idea is to foster the personal and the professional growth of the person or persons you are mentoring. 6. Re-tweet a start-up If you really don’t have much time or spare investment then just a simple message of encouragement for a new start-up can be a wonderful thing. We all like being told what we are doing is good, so in the early days of worrying if you are doing the right thing, a message of support from those already doing it can give a big lift. A tweet is the quickest and most public way of achieving that. Get Involved – Tweet #StartUpDay with what you plan to do and don’t forget to tag @123reg in there too.
6 Top Tips for success from those who know
We all want to be a success. We all have different ways we think we can achieve it. There’s no right or wrong answer but what about those who have already proven their success? Here’s six top tips to making your start-up business a success from those in the know: Simon Hughes MP Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats and MP for Bermondsey & Old Southwark “Work with somebody from your area who is five or more years older than you and is doing the sort of thing that you want to be doing” Lee McQueen Winner of BBC The Apprentice 2008, entrepreneur and founder of Raw Talent Academy that provides SMEs and corporate organisations with the vehicle to build internal sales academies into long term staffing plans. “Get as much critique as possible about your idea. Don’t just ask friends, family and those sort of people, they are just going to tell you what you want to hear. Do go and ask the sort of people who are likely to tell you the things you don’t want to hear. That’s how you are going to hone your idea. That’s how it is going to get much better.” Ketan Makwana A self-made serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Youth Enterprise Live and Enterprise Labs. He is a special advisor on youth employment & enterprise to the UK government and contributor to Parliamentary workgroups. “Believe in yourself and even when the going gets tough just keep pushing through. If you believe in what you are doing and you keep pushing you will breakthrough.” Claire Young Runner up of BBC The Apprentice 2008 and serial entrepreneur specialising in the area of social enterprise “Before you dive off and start spending any time or money make sure you do your homework. Research your market. Know who your competition is and take the time to have a plan in place because without a plan you will have no idea of where you are going. Naomi Timperley Entrepreneur and Co-founder of Enterprise Lab who once with a previous very successful venture turned down an offer of investment on BBC Dragon’s Den “Use and build your network – you never know who someone knows – treat people with respect and how you would like to be treated yourself.” Michael Sani Teacher, actor and founder of apolitical movement Bite the Ballot an organisation engaging young people into thinking about politics. “My top tip….well it’s right to say that I have not gone into this to make money…To be faced with the challenges of setting up and running your own business is a great thing. It means your doing something that has the ability to take you on a roller coaster of ups and downs, questioning what your doing whilst constantly redefining your desire to achieve and if you are the one at the steering wheel of the business, then you are the one that has to ensure it does not fail. But in between, that feeling of sinking deeper and deeper you see the landmarks of achievement that you know, one day, have the potential to be spoken about as examples of success, long after you are gone!” So that’s your six top tips from those at the top of the tree and now here’s a bonus one from this entrepreneurial blogger. My business background is nothing if not varied and coming to the party with many different hats on, I like to think I have a few valid points to make. So what is my tip for success? “Read, listen and absorb. Information is your weapon, your shield and should be your inspiration. Read words of wisdom (such as this) from those who have already lived it and hopefully you will avoid many of the pitfalls that can de-rail your plans for success. Listen to podcasts, attend conferences and network with those who hold golden nuggets of advice. Even friends and family running small operations will have knowledge that may come in useful. Don’t expect all that information you take on board to be of immediate use either. It may be years down the line but every snippet of learning you absorb will one day pay dividends.” 123-reg caught up with all our top tipsters at Youth Enterprise Live 2012 an event focusing on employment, education and enterprise for 15-30 year olds. The event hits the road in 2013 visiting 12 different cities in the UK.
Interview: Fighting Malware with Anirban Banerjee
2012 continues to be a year of great excitement for 123-reg. We are thrilled to announce the release of Site Scanner, powered by Stop the Hacker. For those not in the know, Site Scanner is a SaaS based malware monitoring tool that scrutinises a user’s website, notifying the customer when malicious code/viruses are found via email and in the 123-reg control panel. Furthermore, the software provides the user information on where the damaging code is located (the line of code it starts and ends on) and provides steps on how to eradicate it. Protecting your online business against malicious code couldn’t be more important in 2012. This year has seen the issue of internet security rise to the front pages of the national newspapers. Whilst events such as the Linkedin security breach are unfortunate, they are helpful in educating the market. 123-reg spoke to Anirban Banerjee, Co-Founder of StopTheHacker Inc., in a bid to help inform website owners of the growing threat of malware and detail how purchasing Site Scanner can give you peace of mind. A blacklisted website can have serious implications for any online business in terms of lost revenue, potential customers and credibility. We asked Banerjee about the threats to 123-reg customers who run websites with little or no malware detection service. ‘Malicious hackers are targeting websites in order to compromise them. If your website gets compromised and is misused to distribute malware to innocent visitors, the infected website is put on a blacklist by Google and other search engines.’ The potentially spiralling affects could be disastrous for your online business as Banerjee explains. ‘If your website is blacklisted, users will be blocked from coming to your website. This could lead to a loss of revenue. Moreover, this could result in an irreparable loss to the reputation of your website and business.’ The threat of being blacklisted by Google is one that is not only very real but one that every website owner needs to protect against. Once malware infects a website, it harms both the company and its customers. Website owners typically have no idea they have been infected, and many do believe that anti-virus protection software is enough. However, it is not. ‘9,500 websites get added to the Google blacklist every single day. Given the UK market is quite big; this represents a substantial number of UK businesses. It takes 7-10 days for a blacklisted website to clean up its act, on average, this process can cost thousands of pounds in lost revenue before even considering the potential revenue lost from your brands’ reputation being tarnished.’ Prevention is better than cure, but having said that, Site Scanner also acts as a quick reaction, something users can take heart from. If malicious code is found on the user’s website at any time, they are sent an email detailing exactly where the code is, and just as importantly, how to delete it. ‘Site Scanner incorporates the best of breed technology when it comes to malware detection, Antivirus engines, signature databases and reputation monitoring. It will help 123-reg customers by providing them with peace of mind. Together, we will help fight the battle for them!’ Central to seeking a partnership, 123-reg looked-for a provider with a real passion for the online security industry. What 123-reg customers should also take from the partnership is Banerjee’s passion for helping people secure their websites as well as the quality of product that his company provides. ‘Our goal is to make website security ubiquitous. Having a secure website and not worrying about hackers installing malware on your site and getting blacklisted shouldn’t be a luxury, everyone should have access to a high quality, reliable and accurate malware detection prevention like Site Scanner.’ Releasing a product like Site Scanner highlights 123-reg’s commitment to helping its customers secure their websites. 123-reg is working with everyone involved with Site Scanner to bring website security to millions of users. Remember, you don’t have to be a high traffic website to be targeted. Even if you see yourself as a small site, you are attractive to hackers because your site will have more vulnerable openings for hackers.