Croydon Businesses Networking

As things go, today has been a good day on all accounts. As the website is new, getting the message across quickly and effectively is quite difficult. Lots of business as soon as they here the words "Directory" and "listings" seem to automatically decide they are not interested.

Some will tell you that they have spent so much money on other directories and they have lost out. This I can believe. There does seem to be a trend that many of the large directories just want to grab a quick buck by throwing a company online.

Croydon business ltd, which I am proud to say I am a member, held a good networking lunch session today. It also included a talk from Gwen Rhys, A networking specialist. The talk was very informative and did really set me thinking. Am i really going about this the right way? What do I need to do to get the message across that the web site is not like the others. Will need to carefully look over these issues and think ahead.

For anyone in Business in Croydon, I can really recommend the networking and other events that Croydon Business organise. There are many people there that can advise and help out. Plus you get to meet many others who are in business in the area as well.

What's in your domain name?

In a day where lots of business and organisations are being encouraged to get themselves onto the internet, it seems some are rushing out to grab the first domain name they can think off. This may be all well and good but it could also be your downfall.

In Croydon, we have thousands of different types of business and organisations, charities, and many other groups who are now becoming more aware of the need to get onto the web. We have also noticed that while researching, some may be doing themselves more harm than good by having the wrong domain name.

What is a domain name? Well it is what you type in the bar at the top of your internet browser. For example www.bbc.co.uk or www.allabout-croydon.co.uk. The last bit of a domain name is the ".co.uk" or ".com" or many others available. These also have a meaning that could put off others from clicking on your web site.

Here is a quick guide to help you choose the right name:

1. Don't just rush out a grab the first name that comes into your mind. Think very carefully about how others will find you on the internet. If you are a business, will using your business name be ok or would it be too long and you would need initials instead. If you are a church parish, how do you get a name for this? Think carefully, If you looked at a name, lets say for example Parish of Sanderstead, your name would be hard to find due to search engines using the word "Parish" as a first point of call. Swapping the words around to Sanderstead Parish would resolve this as now, the word "Sanderstead" would now be the prime word in your domain.
2. Get the right prefix for your domain. This is the ".co.uk" bit at the end of your name. These too mean something so it is just important to choose the one that relates to 1, who you are and what type of company or organisation your are and 2, who you want others to see you on the net. There are many different prefixes which we are not going into on here but don't think for one minute that grabbing a ".com" is going to get you more visitors!
3. Talk about it with other members of your organisation and see what they think. They may even come up with another idea. You also need to look at it from a "Visitor" view. How would someone in the area find you on the internet? Would you name be easily found.
4. Lastly, When you have done all of this, visit a website to see if the name is available. If it is , all well and good, if it isn't, you have to start all over again. Sometimes it is worth coming up with at least three names and in an order of preference. Visit 1and1.co.uk for a good value domain name.
   

This resource is being added in full within our Internet resource sections for both community and business. To read more and get more advice, please use the links at the top of this blog on the right hand side.

Croydon's fully online

Today has been really busy. For sometime in the background, we have been getting all the page layouts sorted out for all the different areas. Today, they have all gone live. We now have 24 areas within Croydon and 18 of our neighbors live on the site.

All we have to do now is gather up all the information required to get all these areas full of useful resources. We are really pleased in the way the new layout has cleaned up the look of the site. Some of you have already commented on how you prefer the new cleaned up version. Over the next few days, we will be going through some area making sure all the odd little bits have all gone.

If you are reading this and you are part of a group or organisation within your local community, please remember that this is the details we are looking for. The internet is for a much larger audience, we have built allabout-croydon to be very local to your area.

Its Friday!

Great feeling as it's Friday and time to spend some time with the family. Finished off some tidying up on the site today. Still got loads to do but just like to say to all those who commented - thanks and we will keep it going.

Just to say - no names but you know who you are and live in Sanderstead - Got your e-mail and agree with you and for others who want to know what it this is all about- they asked if I could add something to this blog and thought i wouldn't dare.

The whole thing was about a story in today's Croydon Advertiser regarding the armed robbery at the Martins Newsagents. First of all, best wishes go to those involved as I used to live near there and visit them regualy - the story is ok but there is one little description that is a little out. Martins is oppersite the Rec not Atwood school, unless you call a five minute walk down the road opposite. Well it seems our local paper has done it's homework and got all the facts - yer right!

There you are - told you I would put it in!. Have a good weekend, blog back on Monday

Cleaning up a few things part 2

Well with the property section cleaned up, it is time for the business section to have a going over. It wasn't that bad but there were a few bits and bobs like text styles and headings which somehow changed and made some pages look un-tidy.

Now written a list of things to add to the resources section which have been meaning to do for at least a month. Over the next few weeks there is a number of sections which will be having lots of new resources which i am quite excited about.

Going to be adding some new interesting bits to the community section very shortly as well plus at least another three areas will be going live in the next week. As they say - its all go.

Lastly - Croydon Business Ltd or Croydon Chambers of Commerce? As a member of Croydon Business i am really pleased with how they have helped already. As for the later, I have not had much involvement. The reason for bringing this up was at least two other business people asked this question today. The main question was "are they worth the fee?" It would be good to get some other's point of view.

Cleaning up a few things

Today has been all about cleaning up, well parts of the web site anyway. Over the last few weeks, many of the people that have given feedback on the site have given it the big thumbs up but there has been a number of little issues.

The main one is our property section. So that has had a clean and things look alot better now. More properties are going to be added shortly which is also good plus we are adding to the resource section.

Heard on the news today there is a warning of property prices crashing. Some estate agents I know have been mentioning this before but as they said today, it could be two years, it could be ten years. spose we will just wait and see!

Big award bash tomorrow night in Croydon. BoBs awards are going to be handed out to the best businesses in Croydon. Good luck to all.

Croydon's name - good or bad

Spent some time today going through results on search engines for Croydon. Apart from the usual one's, there where a couple that took a bit of interest. Chavs have there own web site and Croydon seems to get noticed here quite allot.

Then there is youTube and some video's on Croydon, some are ok, some are really bad and others should really be destroyed. One think that stood out was how much Croydon got slated by partially younger adults.

As for me, I somehow found myself agreeing with some of their comments. Croydon has changed over the years and the way it has been commercialised may not of helped. In my younger days, I really enjoyed the Saturday's visit into the centre (after Tiswas and Swapshop) where we used to visit the real Swap shop, beano's and if needed a haircut at Tony and Peters.

Beano's is still here but only just. Swap shop used to stand behind Drummond centre, before there was a Drummond centre and well at least you can still get your hair cut at Tony and Peters. It is sad that if you do look around in our town centre today there are a very few "independent" shops that used to make up the old "Croydon".

Moving on into the future, do we really need yet another shopping centre? Is the council paying to much attention of getting money in and not enough on time and resources in providing services or areas where communities can benefit?

Personally, Croydon is a great place to live. Your 10-15 minutes from the City, we have great transport links and it's a short journey to the countryside. We make Croydon what it is but we do need to put the "Community" part back into it.

Your views would be appreciated

End of another long day

It's nearly midnight and an end of another busy day. Not that I am complaining as I would rather be busy than quiet. Today, we have sent off some new press releases for the web site to local organisation and press. These should be out sometime in the next week or so and hopefully be fruitful.

Talking of press, was reading today regarding the lady who lost her case regarding the cross neckless. As a Christian myself, I can understand her reasons but if there is a rule at British airways regarding no jewelery, then I can understand this as well. If it is just a case due to a PC (political correctness) exercise, then i am totally with her.

Been around to some local business today and some are so full of excuses why they should not go onto a local directory i couldn't wait to get out of there. Best one I heard so far is "Sorry, I haven't got the internet so i don't need to advertise on it". With comments like this, i wonder sometimes how they stay in business making comments like that.

Got another busy day tomorrow so thats it for today.

Getting back whats yours

Credit cards recently dropped charges from around £25 to £35 to a maximum of £12. The reason why was the office of fair trading agreed that these charges where un-fair.

Next - The banks and lenders are still charging unlawful charges against anyone who goes over their overdraft limit or cheque does not clear.

The Consumer Action Group founded by Dave and Bankfodder is the place to go if you have ever in the last six years an unlawful charge. The great news is that you can claim the whole lot back. Members of the CAG have succesfully claimed the money back by using a system put into place which will help you. If you have any questions or need advice, the forum which has over 80,000
members is great as others like yourselves will be able to help you.

Members of the CAG have so far together claimed back over £4 million pounds. It's a great place to be and is so helpful with lots of other issues including PPI, retail issues, Baliffs and debt collectors. If anyone needs advice or help which is FREE, visit the CAG today.