Marketing and business consultants on 01284 767193. Don't pay for online marketing services in Bury St Edmunds or Jersey until you've spoken to Cinnamon Edge
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Cinnamon Edge Marketing and Training in Jersey
Life is about changes and challenges, and we at Cinnamon Edge are not ones to evade a challenge or avoid
change. That’s why Jersey girl Jacqui, and I (Roy), will be bringing our marketing, training and writing company Cinnamon Edge to Jersey in July.
While it’s a homecoming for Jacqui it’s certainly a departure for me and our business, which until this summer has been based in Bury St
Edmunds, Suffolk.
In fact, we're so deeply esconced in Suffolk that Jacqui serves on the
executive committee of Bury St Edmunds Chamber of Commerce, while I
also run another small business - Flatpack Assembly Suffolk - that I plan to sell
before we leave England’s shores.
Although Cinnamon Edge itself won’t be affected too much by the move –
most of our existing clients would hardly notice the difference if we didn't tell them – we are still looking for new
clients in Jersey and elsewhere, and we plan to diversify into other areas, too.
For the moment, those other areas are hush-hush, but you can expect
us to start making a splash in Jersey as soon we we arrive.
Well, just as soon as we’ve taken a stroll and a paddle on our favourite beach, that is.
We've seen a big improvement recently in the website building packages available for free from hosting companies. There are some great design templates out there and some people are making lovely looking websites with them - and all for free...
Free, that is, unless you take into account a few costs
Free site building software usually comes with paid hosting (not free), or has a very limited capacity ('bandwidth' and 'disc space'), unless you pay for more
Free site building software always has limitations that affect your ability to make your site pay (therefore costing you money and not free)
Free site building software always advertises the fact that it's free, which affects the impression you give to your visitors, making them less likely to pay you premium prices (again, not free)
Free site building software might help you make a much prettier website than you could otherwise, but pretty websites are hardly ever the most effective - except perhaps at selling more websites. And if you sell websites you won't want to be promoting free ones!
Free site building software presupposes that you know what you want your website to achieve (not as obvious as you might think), that you understand how websites actually work to make you money, AND that you have the time and skill to apply all that.
On the other hand, paying for a professional website from experts like, say, Cinnamon Edge, means
You can choose which hosting you want (or let us deal with that), and upgrade or change it at any time without losing your website
You have unlimited options when it comes to making your site work for you and pay you back many times over. There are countless ways a website can work
You don't advertise anyone else's business except your own, unless you want to, which means your site is professional and focused on boosting your business
You get a website that works, not one that just looks pretty. Business is not about winning accolades for design, unless you're a designer. Otherwise, growing a business is about doing more business, serving more customers and making more money.
Using a professional marketing company (rather than a design company) to build you a website means we help you clarify what you want to achieve, and build a website that delivers and helps you grow your business, so you don't have to.
So, do you still want a free website (that costs you an enormous amount of time and goodness knows how much lost business)? Or would you rather have a professional website built by a professional marketing company that will give you and your company a professional edge?
There's really only one sensible answer to that.
Roy
PS. Our professionally designed and built websites are probably not the cheapest you can buy, either, but if you were daft enough to buy on price alone, you'd probably opt for 'free', wouldn't you?
NEWS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 4 April 2012
Successful Local Writers and Publishers to Show You How it’s Done
Two successful local writers and publishers have decided to share their knowledge of Kindle publishing by holding a workshop aimed at anyone who wants to publish their own book. Jacqui Carrel and Roy Everitt each have a Kindle best seller to their name as well as owning Cinnamon Edge Publishing, a company that specialises in digital publishing.
The workshops will be open to all and will show writers how to write their book as well as how to format and upload it to Kindle, PLUS how to make sure it sells! Kindle books are sold through Amazon worldwide, so the potential market is enormous. Readers don’t even need a Kindle, just a free ‘app’ for their laptop or mobile device.
As Roy says, “With Kindle book sales overtaking printed books some time ago, and still growing, some people are making a very good income from Kindle publishing. Profit margins are bigger than with printed books, sales can be huge and the simple satisfaction of publishing your book, maybe for the first time, is a big factor, too”.
“It’s a quick process and I can tell you it’s a great feeling when you see people buying your book within hours of it being uploaded!” he adds.
The first confirmed workshop is on Thursday May 31st at The Self Centre on Moreton Hall, and is open to writers of fiction, non-fiction, business books and even poetry. Roy himself has published two volumes of poetry as well as numerous business books.
Jacqui adds: “You do need to know what you’re doing to get the best from Kindle publishing, and we’ve worked hard at learning what works and putting that into practise ourselves. At the end of the workshop anyone should be able to write and publish a book on Kindle”.
We’re available via phone, email, Twitter, Facebook and Skype, and we always welcome enquiries and questions. We’re real people who enjoy helping people like you to do better. Call 01284 767193 or email info@cinnamonedge.co.uk.
Books
A demonstration of our expertise is the books we’ve written and published and the five-star reviews they’ve received on Amazon. Our business books are a big hit and packed with useful information. Go to www.cinnamonedgepublishing.co.uk.
Contact
Not only are we easy to get in touch with, we maintain contact with our clients by phone, Skype and email, and we’ll meet face to face when it’s necessary and convenient.
Direct marketing
Direct marketing and most of the other methods we use are measurable so you can see the results of what we do and we can tweak and improve things to make those results even better.
Education
We’ve invested a fortune in our education and we love to pass our knowledge on. Our investment in us was also an investment you don’t need to make.
Friendliness
We’re friendly people who enjoy having conversations with clients, potential clients and fellow business people in general. We even have a social life.
Google
We’re recognised experts in search engine marketing and we mainly concentrate on Google, since over 90 percent of search engine traffic in the UK is via Google.
How to
Our ‘How to’ guides are carefully researched and highly valued and we enjoy showing people how to do things in person as well. Clients who understand what we do value our services that much more.
Independent
We’re an independent small company ourselves and understand the needs of other independent small firms. We’re not reliant on selling anything for anyone else and our advice is unbiased.
Jacqui Carrel
Jacqui is one of the founding partners in Cinnamon Edge and is a successful author, educator, coach and marketer who enjoys sharing her knowledge and helping you to succeed as well.
Knowledge
After all this time, we know our stuff. We’ve accumulated a lot of knowledge by trial and error as well as the formal training and courses we’ve undertaken.
Listening
Although we know a lot, we don’t know everything about your business. That’s why one of our primary skills is the ability to listen to what you tell us about your business, market and experiences.
Marketing
The core of our business is marketing in various forms and the main benefits to you are increased sales, profits and security in your business.
Networking
One of the main ways we’ve found clients in the past is through networking and we recommend networking to many of our clients. We’ve even written books about it.
Optimisation
Search Engine Optimisation and website optimisation are major parts of our business. Both will help you to get improved results and better value from your website.
Practical
Everything we do has practical benefits and not just theoretical results. Very often we’ll show you how to contribute in a practical way if you choose to.
Questions
We often start with a series of questions to establish your situation, and we’ll listen to your answers. We’re also more than happy to answer your questions.
Roy Everitt
The other founding partner is also a published author and has conducted workshops as well as training clients one-to-one in various marketing and web-related skills. He also writes poetry and rides a bike.
Strategy
As well as applying a wide range of skills and techniques we will help you design a marketing strategy specific to your business. There’s no ‘one size fits all’ at Cinnamon Edge.
Training
We will conduct in-house training on demand and have run our own workshop events open to all. These have included SEO, content creation and search engine domination. More are planned.
Understanding
Because we question and listen, and because we have a business ourselves, we understand your situation, your concerns and, above all, your potential. You can grow with Cinnamon Edge.
Values
We value integrity and a willingness to share. We also appreciate the real value to you of good advice and excellent services at sensible prices.
Websites
We build websites, optimise websites, critique websites, write website copy and create blogs that improve the productivity and value of your company online.
X-ray Vision
Well, almost. We can look behind the obvious in your website and your business and see what’s going on in the background that might be affecting performance.
You
You are the most important person in your business and our dealings with you will reflect that. No one is a better representative of your company than you. We’ve written a book about that, too.
Zeal
We’re not obsessive but we are very keen to see our work produce real results. We often go the extra mile for our clients to make sure it does.
You don't have to go anywhere else. Call us on 01284 767193 or email info@cinnamonedge.co.uk.
Here's the link to our website page where you'll find all our business books, and the others we've published under the Cinnamon Edge Publishing imprint: http://www.cinnamonedge.co.uk/publications.
Go to the site and click through to read the reviews on Amazon and to download the books. They're all at bargain prices and two of them are even free.
I was amazed yesterday when writing a news release, to realise how many books we have published in the last few weeks. The total is eight - and that's not counting a couple of bigger projects that haven't been released yet.
That might sound like a lot of writing - although we find writing to be one of the best bits of our job - but it's more the consequence of taking action, finishing several smaller projects and making our stuff available to people. There's not a lot of point knowing all about something if you don't share it, and certainly no point writing about it and then not publishing!
So, eight books it is, and we've even updated the main blog on our website, which tends to take second place to this one much of the time, to list all our books with relevant links to Amazon and Bookboon.
Books cover subjects like SEO (2), email marketing, running workshops and seminars (2), competitor analysis, starting a small practice from scratch, and more. There's even a book of poetry there - just in time for Valentine's Day!
Go to the blog or the publications page now and you'll get a nice surprise, too...
Another Helpful Book for Business Owners - Easy Competitor Analysis
When I talk about one of the services we offer, a common response is, “Competitor analysis? What’s that and why would I need it?”
Another one I get is, “And how would I do that?”
You’ll find the answers to both questions in this book! In summary, however, competitor analysis is finding out about your competitors’ businesses and applying that knowledge to your own business.
You’ll be taken step by step through how to find out what your competitors are up to, and how you can use the knowledge to your own benefit.
You’ll be surprised at what you find out.
I’ll also show you how you can outsource some of this if you’re pushed for time.
Jacqui is the 'marketing whizz' (their words) behind the amazing success of the College of Foot Care Practitioners and The Foot Care Centre Kings Lynn, in case you were wondering. The book gives a concise and clear explanation of how to get into the foot care profession (you don't need a degree, for example, and you will study anatomy and physiology). It also covers marketing and promoting your practice and where to get the best training.
We're not stopping there, though. Our second book will be published via Kindle in the next day or so (possibly even tomorrow), and it's called Simple SEO for Business Owners. The amazing results we've had with our new website SEO Suffolk are proof that our Search Engine Optimisation techniques work, and you can learn all about them in my short and concise book
There's more! We've also just sent off the two books commissioned by BookBoon. One written by me (Roy) is called Permission Marketing and concentrates on the what, why and how of email and relationship marketing, while the second, from Jacqui, is another about Search Engine Marketing and SEO. Both should be available soon.
We plan to publish a lot more this year, and January has seen us off to a flying start!
There's a simple fact about being visible, whether as a celebrity, a politician or a business - people will talk about you.
Not only talk, of course. These days people can share their thoughts and opinions with more than a few close friends or the person next to them in the bar. Opinions these days can be shared worldwide in a moment - on Twitter, Facebook, and a hundred other 'social media' networks. Some of those networks are dedicated to discussing particular celebrities, politicians and brands.
Which means, the only way you won't be talked about is if nobody notices you, which is hardly what you want when you're in business. And that means social media isn't something you can choose to ignore.
So you have a choice when it comes to social media. You can hope it won't affect you or your company adversely (also known as 'the ostrich position') or you can embrace the potential benefits of social media, accept that it's much better to be a part of the conversation about you and actually use it to grow your business and connect to your customers.
We don't recommend the first option, and we can't help you with it (although we can help you limit the damage afterwards...) but we can certainly help you with the second. We will be as involved as you want us to be - from helping you set up your accounts, giving you some simple training and leaving you to it, to managing your whole social media campaign. We can build your Facebook Business Page and show you how to get more relevant followers on Twitter.
Probably most important of all, we will show you how to monitor and manage your reputation online, and of course we can do that for you, too.
Basically, if you're in business you WILL be online, and when it comes to all aspects of online marketing you won't anyone offering more online marketing expertise than Cinnamon Edge.
Here are the slides we used for our Search Engine Domination workshop in June of this year. For a real live presentation, in-house training or more information, call us on 01284 767 193 or email info@cinnamonedge.co.uk
It's a presention we did early this year - hence the old logo - but nothing has changed since we put the slides together. It's still a valuable guide to email list building and another example of the kind of know-how and training available from Cinnamon Edge Roy
When we talk to people about Search Engine Optimisation, we're often reminded that a lot of people don't appreciate the importance of it for their business.
This is usually for one of three reasons:
1. They don't get much business through their website
2. They don't know what SEO is
3. They have an idea what SEO is but think it sounds complicated and therefore expensive
I think we can skip number one for now.
To answer number two - SEO is the process that makes your site more search engine friendly or 'optimised' so it appears higher than your competitors' sites in the search results. This brings you more of the 'traffic' or website visitors, meaning your business is seen by a lot more of your potential customers.
Well over 90 percent of visitors will go to the websites listed on page one of Google.
In answer to three - yes, SEO can be a bit too 'techy' for some people, and too time-consuming for others. This means you will probably need to pay someone else to help you. However, for a local business, SEO isn't always that difficult, and assuming you have a good product and know how to 'convert' enquiries to sales the investment will easily be covered by the extra sales you make through your website.
And point number one? Well, if no one is finding you online, even the most stunning website won't bring you sales. Whereas we've seen the ugliest websites you could imagine making their owners all the sales they can cope with - because they get all the visitors their competitors miss, and that's simply because they're above their competitors on Google, Bing and Yahoo.
That's why Search Engine Optimisation matters, and that's why SEO is one of our most important services, even if it's not the easiest to sell!
Roy
PS. You might have been approached by companies offering SEO link-building services, and link building is certainly a big part of SEO. However, the way we approach SEO means our clients usually get much more than just their website on page one. What we achieve is more like Search Engine Domination, with multiple appearances that make our clients almost impossible to ignore. We can also create a presence for you on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and others.
PPS. Test us out now. Try looking for "foot care Kings Lynn" or "Flatpack assembly Suffolk" on Google and see if you can guess which companies are clients of ours!
PPPS. Then contact us if you'd like to see similar results for your business. Email info@cinnamonedge.co.uk or call 01284 767193 for a no obligation chat.
All the claimed expertise in the world counts for nothing - and won't help your business a jot - if it doesn't produce real results.
That's real, visible, tangible results that lead to more customers, clients and cash flow into your business...
Well, if it's results you want, take a look at the case study we recently uploaded to our website. It shows some of what we've achieved with one of our clients over the last few months. In fact, we've helped her create a whole new business as well, but what you see in the case study is how our marketing has given her total domination in her local market and a very healthy chunk of the national market, too.
After such a quick move there was a lot of sorting out and decluttering to do. We have to thank Mark Byford and Gary Spencer of Crack on!! who supplied the van and heavy lifting on the day (seven trips!) and so it was easy to decide where all our surplus stuff would go. Mark has already been back twice with the Crack on!! van to collect for their new warehouse/shop in Thetford.
But now Cinnamon Edge are back into the swing of things, we've almost stopped tripping over boxes, and we're ready to help you with your business' marketing just as soon as you want to call the new number!
But we're going to celebrate the arrival of one Harry William Everitt on 6 September with some special offers and we've created a special page on our website http://www.cinnamonedge.co.uk/harrys-offer/ to share the love.
We're offering special deals on videos that you can use on all your social media accounts as well as on Youtube and your website and blog, and we're doing an extraordinary deal on our business marketing report by slashing the price from £350 plus to an astonishing £15.
For this, you will get a thorough review of all your business' marketing (through a face to face meeting with you and our own detailed research) followed by a full written report with recommendations and a bespoke marketing plan for your business. This could be worth thousands of pounds a year to your business' bottom line.
And we promise not to show you the baby photos unless you ask!
You might know we were away last week - a very pleasant tour of some of the lovelier parts of England - and our road trip ended with a couple of days near Kings Lynn with our foot care client.
This half-working and half-socialising end to our tour included a fair bit of time at the Foot Care Centre in Kings Lynn, where we found our client was even busier than we thought. In short, the 'couple of clients' she had to see that day was in fact an almost full day of consultations and treatments.
Clearly, this is one business that's thriving. True, Liz Dutton is hard-working and innovative, and she has just launched a new service at the clinic that uses garra rufa fish ('doctor fish') to treat skin complaints including psoriasis and eczema.
But her success is also down to the fact that she listens and takes the marketing advice we give her, as well as utilising our marketing services to the utmost. From news releases and magazine articles to websites, newsletters and social media, Cinnamon Edge helps the Foot Care Centre and the College of Foot Care Practitioners to thrive in an environment where business is supposed to be increasingly difficult.
As an experiment, I've created a new Facebook Page called Marketing in Bury St Edmunds, just to see how quickly Google indexes it, with minimal content apart from links to our website and some other Pages.
NEWS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Cinnamon Edge
As part of their Towergate Accumulator Challenge fundraising activities for St Nicholas Hospice Care, Cinnamon Edge held a successful Content Writing and Marketing workshop last week at the Farmers Club in Bury St Edmunds.
Jacqui Carrel, a writer and marketer, ran the workshop. ‘The whole day was fun: I enjoyed running the proceedings, not least because I had lovely people to work with. The best part was seeing how the group, using the techniques I taught them, produced some great pieces of writing in a very short time.’
Delegates enjoyed the relaxed, information and activity packed day-long session. Said attendee Linda Birnie, ‘Content Marketing was a very enjoyable one day workshop covering many ways of advertising your business. The format was very relaxed and interactive and I came away with several new ideas and constructive techniques for writing advertorials, web pages and general articles.’
Roy Everitt, partner in Cinnamon Edge, helped with the workshop. He says, ‘This is just one of the things we are doing for the Challenge, which we have dubbed ‘The Fifty Quid Challenge’. Cinnamon Edge intends to carry on raising money in a variety of ways. We have even built a site around it: http://www.thefiftyquidchallenge.co.uk
100% of ticket proceeds went directly to the Hospice, helped along by generous donations from other Bury St Edmunds businesses. The Farmers’ Club donated the room and coffee, Bedford’s estate agent donated lunch, and Peatling’s and Munning’s supplied soft drinks and delicious afternoon tea scones respectively.
Just Giving have allowed charities to collect donations by text for some time and, thanks to the generosity of mobile phone companies, the service has been free. A similar service has helped the likes of Comic Relief and BBC Children in Need raise millions of pounds in one evening.
Smaller charities, without the resources to 'plug' the text giving service on TV, haven't done quite so well with it. But all that might have changed from today.
When we asked Just Giving about using text giving for our Fifty Quid Challenge, raising money for St Nicholas Hospice Care, we were told that only the charity themselves could set up such a system but that text giving for fundraisers like ourselves was 'coming soon'.
Well, that day has arrived! From today, we have our own unique 'short code', QUID50 and that means you can now donate anything from £1 to £10 in seconds, just by texting QUID50, then the amount you want to donate, to 70070. The text itself is free.
Just giving will show your donation on our Just Giving page, the money goes directly to the Hospice, and Vodaphone, who run the service for Just Giving, don't charge a penny. Your donation is simply added to your next mobile phone bill, with no extra fees at all.
You'll get a receipt for your donation by text and the opportunity to add gift aid, at 25%. Your donation will be anonymous.
Try it now. Just donate £1 to see how it works, by texting QUID50 1 to 70070.
We have other plans, too, including one of our increasingly popular workshops on 14 July, this time on content creation and this time for a full day. We still only ask for a minimum donation of £50 for a full day, including, we hope, all the food and drink for the day.
(Anyone who wants to sponsor some of that in return for some great publicity, please get in touch.)
Meanwhile, on the website you can get some of the cheapest advertising available anywhere for your company, or take advantage of some of the deals that are on there already. Ads cost £50 for the full period (to end Sept) for a text ad, £50 a month for 200x200 pixel ads or £50 a week for a banner.
Lots of the product offers are £50, too.
And if you think charity should just be about giving, you can do that as well, by going to our Just Giving page.
The Fifty Quid Challenge has something for everyone, and it's for a truly great cause! Join us, follow us, Like us on Facebook or just donate to the hospice via our page. People's lives will be made more bearable with every pound we raise and we might just win the competition!
