Disability Means Business

Recently some of my clients have been contacted on the telephone from people who claim to be representatives from Google. They are claiming that they can get your website on the first page of Google for a monthly fee.

If you get one of these calls, I would be very wary, as after questioning one of the “representatives” it was apparent that they were not from Google and what they were actually offering was different from what they first said.

Some of my clients thought this was a good offer as their website was new and not on the first page of Google. The person on the phone claimed they could instantly get their website on the first page and offered them a choice of 5 keywords, i.e. The client picks 5 keywords such as, dog walking in Manchester, pet sitting in Manchester etc…The Company then promises to get the website on the first page when a visitor types in these search terms into Google.

The only problem with this offer was that the person on the end of the phone did not mention that the listing would appear on the right hand side of google and not the left.

When you do a search on google, say for, martial arts classes in Liverpool, Google will display websites it deems most relevant to that search term. It then displays the results down the left hand side of the page and the sponsored results (ones which people have paid for) down the right hand side, and it’s these results the company is trying to sell you.

These listings in the right hand side of google are known as Pay Per Click or PPC advertising. The way it works is that a person who owns a website bids for a keyword, say, “café in Birmingham”. For this example we will say that you bid 10p for the keyword “café in Birmingham”. Google will look at the other bids and if you have bid the most, you will have the top position on the left hand side of Google.

If you have the second highest bid, then you will be second from the top on the right hand side and so on.

If a visitor goes on the internet and types “café in Birmingham” into google, your listing should appear at the top of the right hand side. If the visitor decides to click on the listing, you will be charged 10p, if nobody clicks it you will not be charged.

This is how the company makes their money. You give them 5 keyword terms, pay them x per month, they set up the PPC account and bid for the keywords and you will appear on the right hand side of google.

In reality, for a small business to get on the first page of Google (on the right hand side) the company will only have to bid between 2p – 10p per click. Even if you get 100 clicks per month (which is very unlikely) you will only be charged £2-£10 by google. If the company does this for you then they will charge you betwwen £50 – £100 per month, then it might be worth setting up an account yourself and save your self £40 – £90 per month. Plus if it’s not working for you then you won’t be tied into a contract the company will get you to sign.

Some of these companies are very good at convincing you that they will get you to the top of google and you will get loads of business from there services. I say, if you want to embark on a PPC advertising campaign, type “Google adwords” into Google or go to adwords.google.co.uk . Funnily enough, Google makes it very easy to set up an Adword account. If you feel PPC advertising is for you, I would have a go at setting up an account, you could save yourself a packet.

Access to Work is a Government organisation who can provide you with equipment, adaptations to the working environment or a support worker to enable the Service User to run their business (provided that it is for disability needs).

Applications can be made either for a new business or an existing one, with no cost to your self

To help ATW make a decision on your support needs, it can be useful to write a “job description” of the tasks you will need the support worker to carry out. This could be;

• If you are hearing impaired, you may need a note taker
• Guiding through unfamiliar places if you are visually impaired
• Driving you to clients if you have mobility problems

ATW may the carry out an assessment to calculate an hourly rate and the number of hours you need.

It is then your responsibility to locate a suitable support worker and to complete monthly time sheets to claim back the hourly rate.

A decision then needs to be made in relation to whether the support worker will be paid on an employee basis (PAYE) or on a self-employed basis (the support worker being responsible for paying their own National Insurance and Income Tax).

The HM Revenue & Customs offer guidance on who can be paid on a self-employment basis;-

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/employment-status/index.htm#1

If you decide upon or are legally obliged to employ a support worker through PAYE you may need the support of a bookkeeper or accountant to complete PAYE. It is possible that the cost could be reimbursed by ATW.

If you have the necessary skills you could do your own PAYE online or do a course on it through

Business Link, Local Enterprise Agencies, Local Council or Enterprise Centres HM Revenue & Customs.

Remember that employing a Support Worker on a PAYE basis will require an employment contract. You can get one of these for free from Business Links website.

Example

You are awarded a support worker for 20 hours at £8 per hour. The support worker starts work and in the first month works 70 hours, this will be recorded on a time sheet and submitted to ATW. You will then pay the support worker and ATW will then reimburse the money into your account.

Depending on how busy ATW are will depend on when they reenburse the money into your account. This could lead to a delay, which could put a financial strain on the business. To keep thing simple it also might be worth having a separate account for these payments, for tax purposes, as they are regarded as a grant.

Many people starting their business for the first time require a website to promote their business or sell their products, but with so many web designers out there which one should you choose?

It can be very difficult choosing a web designer when you know little about web design, so in this article I will give you tips on how to find one which is suitable to your business.

Web designers don’t have magic wands to get you to the top of google, anyone who claims this I would be very wary of. If you want your website to be at the top of google then you will need to advertise and add to it on a regular basis.

The first thing I would do is think about what you want your website for. Do you want to, sell online, use it to display your products, give information to your clients. I would then do a bit of research on your competition, to see who is currently at the top of the search engines.

You can do this by typing in search terms, on how you feel your clients will look for you on google. Example, if I was a plumber in Liverpool, I would type, ‘plumbers in Liverpool in to google and see what comes up. Have a look at the sites which are top and see if the contact details of the people who designed them are on the site.

Once I had a list of web designers I would look on their website, there should be examples of their work. Contact the businesses they have done work for, preferably, companies who are similar to yours. So, in this example if I was a plumber I would look for, electricians, roofers and other building related professions.

Type, ‘electricians in Liverpool’ into Google and see how near the top they come. If they appear fairly high or even top, I would give them a ring and ask them about their website and the company who designed it for them.

This is the part most people don’t like, but I assure you, in my experience most businesses are please to help, if you are not competition. Think about it, if you were a plumber with a website and an electrician, rang you about your website and the company who designed it, I’m sure you would be helpful. Clients who I advise to do this often make valuable contacts. If the person is helpful, offer to send them work, ask for there card, they might off to do the same for you.

Tips

1. If you can operate I.T. software like “Microsoft Word” or “Facebook” then you should be able to update your website yourself. Ask the web designer if the website they are building has the option for you to edit it, otherwise if you need the web designer to change your prices in the future, it may be costly.
2. The best way to get up the search engines is by having a large relevant website with lots of quality links. Have a look at this guide about getting links, but to get a big site you will need to blog. If you have the I.T. skills mentioned above then request the web designer to incorporate a blog on the site.
3. Ask how much it cost to hosts the website each year, should not be more than £60
4. Ask how much per hour it costs for new work to be carried out on the site
5. My advice would be to get a web designer who works with either of the following website design software, Wordpress, Joomla, Mambo. I say these because if you want a shop or other facilities in the future, it will be easier and cheaper to add them. This site is designed in Wordpress

When you start up in business you are required by law to keep some form of accountant, in order for the tax office to calculate tax on your profits.

Many disabled people wishing to start up in business are concerned about, how they will be able to do this as they have had no experience in doing so. Some disabled entrepreneurs have concerns about the cost involved in hiring a bookkeeper or an accountant to submit there records to the tax authorities.

In this article I will use the term bookkeeper as the majority of small businesses may only need an accountant for a small part of there record keeping responsibilities. Accountants have gone through more training than bookkeepers and are able to handle more complex issues. If your small business does not need the skills of an accountant, then there is no point in paying top dollar to use one. 

Other concerns people have, is how they will be able to cope physically doing their tax records if they have a disability which limits the work they can do.

In my experience these fears are often blown out of proportion as people feel they need to be an expert in maths to be able to keep records. This is simply not true. For someone setting up a small business, record keeping is a fairly simple process which should not incur much attention from a bookkeeper or accountant.

I would advise anyone who is thinking of starting up a small business and has concerns about record keeping to first visit the tax office and ask them what is required. Many local tax offices has staff whos job it is to help small business submit their tax records and some even run courses. If you think about it, all the Government wants, is for you to pay the correct tax you owe.

When you visit them, explain your concerns and any issues you may have. From my experience they have been very helpful with people who have disabilities and may already understand the concerns you have.

They could help you set up a system which will suit both parties and keep you on the right side of the law. They may be elements of keeping and completing records that you don’t feel comfortable with. For these more taxing (sorry) elements, you could always get a bookkeeper to do them.

As I was saying, keeping records for tax purposes is fairly straight forward and  inexpensive, if you are prepared to do some of the work yourself. If all you want to do, is once a year turn up to your bookkeeper, dump a sack full of receipts on his table and run off, then yes it is going to cost you.

You can reduce this costs by keeping your records in order, which will mean less work for the bookkeeper. I would recommend that you get yourself some envelopes and files, and at the very least keep all the receipts/ invoices in order, on a month to month basis.

Talk to a few bookkeepers, tell them you are on a budget and you want do the majority of work yourself. Work with them and the tax office and find a system that is right for you.

There is also support available from Access to Work. If you have a disability which restricts the bookkeeping work you can carry out, you may be entitled to equipment or a support worker to enable you to operate your business effectively. They will not pay for someone to do your accounts, but will help easy issues which are directly related to your disability.

If your local tax office does not offer courses, try your local enterprise centres or the council. From time to time these organisations run courses for all abilities.

Becoming disabled is a difficult time for people, as it could affect every aspect of there life. For people who are self employed, becoming disabled can have a disastrous effect on their business.

The first piece of advice I can give to you if you find yourself in this position is to fight! This is not the time to feel sorry for yourself; you may have people who rely on you. I suspect if you are in business you are used to having to fight and if you want to keep your business you will need to act fast!

If you are self employed and have recently become disabled from sight loss (registered blind or partially sighted), become deaf or have mobility issues etc… it could have a negative impact on your business.

There is support out there to keep you in business. The last thing the government wants is for you to quit your business and sign on to full time benefits. In this article I will guide you through the support available and were to find it. Support which is designed to help you remain in business can take time to implement. The quicker you can apply for it, the faster it will be put in place, which should limit the impact on your business.

The main support available to people in business who have become disabled is.

1. Benefits
2. Access to work
3. Grants

1. Benefits

If you are newly disabled and in business, you could qualify for benefits which are designed to support you with the extra cost of living caused by your disability. Benefits such as, Disability Living Allowance are not means tested and could be paid to you whilst you are trading. This extra financial support could help you until you can fully operate your business.

There could also be support if your income drops during this time. You maybe eligible for Working Tax Credits, housing benefit, counsel tax benefit, which will supplement your income.

The key to accessing these benefits are working with the people who understand your disability. You need to contact local charities who operate in your area and specialise in you disability. You can find these by looking in the phone book or using the internet. These charities usually have staff who can help you access support.

2. Access to Work

Access to Work is a Government organisation who can provide funds to pay for a support worker, equipment or adaptation to your working environment to enable you to run your business (see ATW article for more info)

3. Grants

There are 2 different types of grants you may qualify for to enable you to continue in business. The first one is hardship grants if your disability is affecting your income and you are having difficulties in paying your utility bills, rents, child costs etc…the other type is a business grant (see business grants)

The key to remaining in business is knowledge and speed. Work with as many organisations as possible and get all the support you are entitled to.

Before applying to Access to Work it’s a good idea to do some research on the support you need. If you are applying for equipment, knowing what is available will help speed up the application and get you the equipment which will best suit your needs.

The first thing you need to do is identify what you need. Will your new business mean you will be doing more reading, answering the phone, taking notes, etc… Modern equipment can make these jobs easier and more efficient, enabling you to concentrate on your business.

Have a think about the tasks you will be undertaking and make a list of the jobs you will struggle with.

A good place to find the right equipment to enable you to run your business is an organisation who specialises in your disability. E.g. if you were visually impaired I would contact the RNIB or your local charity. If I was dyslexic I would speak with a local dyslexic support organisation. These organisations should have lots of information on equipment which could make your business life a lot easier.

Another place to look is the internet. Doing a search such as, “deaf equipment” or visual impairment equipment” will bring up companies who specialise in disability solutions.

These companies will arrange demonstrations at your home, which will give you a good idea if it suits your needs.

It is important to remember that the person who best who understands your disability is you! Any equipment people recommend will need to be tested to see if it’s suitable for your business. Remember, before trying out the equipment take with you what the equipment will be used for. For example if I was looking for equipment which would make it easier for me to read, I would take with me some business documents which i would be using on a daily basis.

Another place to view equipment is a trade show were companies show off the latest products. These events tend to be very busy, so it could be difficult to get a decent demo. If you see a piece of equipment you like, try to arrange a demo at home.

Then all you need to do is contact Access to Work and arrange a meeting.

One of the conditions of a successful self employment application to Access to Work is that the business is viable .i.e. likely to succeed. Many disabled entrepreneurs starting up new businesses have difficulty in proving how profitable their business will be, as they only have a business plan, which is partly theoretical.

The problem Access to Work have is that it is difficult for them to determine if a business is viable when they don’t have any business advisers to judge it. Let’s not forget, some Access to Work applications run into several thousands of pounds. For Access to Work not to waste tax payers money, they must be sure the grant will be put to best use.

One way to help Access to Work is to inform them of other organisations you are working with to produce your business plan. It’s a good idea when starting a business to work with lots of organisations, as not only they can give you advice, they may also have a start up grant available.

Working with many organisations and securing grants from them will give a lot of strength to your business plan and help to prove that your business will have a good chance of success. The more qualified people you can get on board the better and if they are financially backing you, it will be further proof of your business’ viability.

Another way to prove viability is to get letters of support from business support organisations such as Business Link. These, combined with an endorsed business plan, will give your business idea credibility and may convince Access to Work that your business is viable.

You should think about your website like a plant, which needs regular attention to grow. If you leave it alone it will not grow, but others (websites!) around it will and you will get left in the dark.

Forget about your meta keywords and descriptions for now; these are still important, but what will make your website stand out is content and links. But, they must be the right content and links. In fact, great content and links!

Content and links are regarded as the best methods to get a website higher up the search engines. I have been recently working with a dancewear retail outlet with a website so I will use this as an example.

The first thing the dancewear shop needs to do is determine the keywords they wish to target. In this case they have done some research and found that the majority of their clients use the keywords “dancewear” and a geographical area. In other words, their customers type “dancewear Preston”, “dancewear in Preston”, “dancewear Lancaster”, “Northwest dance shops”, “dance shops in the Northwest”.

The next thing the dancewear outlet needs is a person in the company who can write dancewear related articles on topics such as, “dance classes in Preston”, “reviews on dancewear”, “what to look for in a dance teacher in Lancaster”, “local dance events in Preston”, “What would you like to see in our Preston shop?” etc. They would only need to write a little, but would need to do at least one per week.

This is the best way to get the right sort of content; can you see why? Each of these articles are searchable on the internet, due to their keyworded content. So, potential customers typing “dance classes Preston” might come across their article “A guide to dance classes Preston”. They will then know about the shop and will hopefully buy something from them.

This is called “business blogging” and it’s one of the best ways to get up the search engines. Quick fixes are not the answer and in the long run, if done correctly, should pay off. A business blog will also help the shop get links (another important factor in climbing the search engines). e.g. if you write about dance classes in Preston, some one might read your article and put a link to it on a forum, facebook account or their own website. As your blogs grow so will your links; see how it works? Their readers will be able to comment on their blog articles, which will produce even more content (remember you have control on what comments you allow).

The other advantage of the blog is that it makes you look like an expert to clients reading the blog. They may think “these guys know what they are talking about, I’ll buy my dancewear from them”

What I recommend is you use a free program called “Wordpress.org” (this is the best blogging software), and have a link in your navigation bar called “blog”. You can try Wordpress for free at www.wordpress.com to see if it is suitable for you. If you feel that you are able to use it, then you can either install wordpress.org (the better version) yourself or instruct your web designer to do it for you. It will probably cost no more than £100.

Once installed, you will then design the blog to look like your website (it will not look exactly the same). ] Have a play with wordpress.com to see if this is suitable for you, there’s lots of help on the internet.

Once you feel competent with wordpress.org, you will be able to do all sort of cool stuff like a video walkthrough of the shop, events calendar, newsletters, advertising space for other companies such as dance classes, and all these programs are free.

My advice is, have a go at www.wordpress.com first and see if it’s something for you. If you enjoy blogging you can easily upgrade to www.wordpress.org and still retain all the articles you have written.

Blogging has become big business and for some it has led to quitting their day job and blogging full time. For some disabled entrepreneurs, blogging could provide the flexibility to work from home, to put in the hours that suit their disability, and has very low start up costs. Sound appealing? There is a catch. Blogs are hard work and it could take years before you can make enough money to take a wage.

So, what is a blog? A blog is similar to a website, it can be on any subject but unlike a regular website, it is updated regularly with articles or posts. These posts appear on the top of the homepage and as new posts are added, the older ones move down the page. Once the page has 10 or so posts they are archived and are found using a search facility, categories bar or archive page. The front page of a long standing blog is usually the tip of the iceberg, showing only the 10 most recent entries. The rest of the blog may have hundreds or even thousands of posts, all about one subject.

Anyone can start a blog; the software used to power them can be as simplistic or as complex as you need it to be. Blogging software such as “Wordpress.com” and Google’s “Blogger” are free to use and have lots of online support.

The three main things you will need to make money from a blog are;

1. A topic that you are passionate enough to write about on a regular basis
2. A topic which is financially lucrative (I will explain this later in the post)
3. A topic which is popular (lots of people searching for it)

If you don’t have all of these factors then you will find it much more difficult to make money online.

So how does it all work? Well one of the main theories behind making money with a blog is to get a lot of useful articles about a chosen subject. Then through SEO (search engine optimisation), you get lots of traffic or visitors. Once you have all this traffic there are 4 main ways you can make money from them;-

1. Selling advertising banner space to other companies
2. Affiliate advertising – Advertising individual products; when a visitor clicks the ad, it will take them to another company’s website. If they buy the item then you would get a percentage of the total cost.
3. Having a blog with loads of articles will show off your expertise and will encourage people to use your own services.
4. Having Google ads on the blog will get you a percentage every time a visitor clicks one.

Making money with Google Ads;-

Having a blog with hundreds of articles still won’t guarantee financial success if you’re blogging about the wrong subject. To be really successful you need to be blogging about a subject which is profitable and to find this out you can use a tool called “Google keyword selector”.

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

This is the best place to start to see if you have a profitable blogging topic. You can type your keyword into the tool and it will list the amount of traffic that particular keyword generates on a monthly basis. Not only that, there is a drop down box “Choose columns to be displayed” which gives you the option to see how much the average CPC (Cost Per Click) would be. This figure is the average cost that a business is prepared to pay to get on Google’s “Sponsored Links”. The higher the amount the company is prepared to pay, the higher they will appear on the right hand side of Google when the relevant keyword is searched.

When you create your blog you can display these ads within each articles. If someone clicks the ad, Google will charge that company and you will get a percentage, regardless of whether the visitor buys something or not.

This is commercial blogging. Yes, you might be an expert in model areoplanes, but if there is no money in the keyword then there is no point trying to make money from it. Yes, do it as a hobby, but if the average CPC is 4p, you will only be getting a percentage of that amount. It will not matter if you get 100,000 visitors as only a small percentage of these will click an advert.

If you can pick a subject which is profitable e.g. “plumbing”, you might be able to get a percentage of £3. You can see that a percentage of this amount would mean far less visitors to achieve the same revenue. You also might be able to see a conflict of interest. If you are a plumber do you write about lucrative subjects such as “emergency plumbing” CPC £4.33 or “leaking plumbing” 4p? The answer is if the subjects are both relevant then do both and don’t compromise the integrity of the blog.

In summary this is how it all works;-

1. Create a blog
2. Write lots of articles on your chosen subject.
3. Read about SEO for blogs and apply to your own blog
4. Through a combination of lots of articles and SEO, you will eventually climb up Google
5. Visitors will come to your blog
6. A visitor clicks on a Google ad
7. You get a percentage of the CPC for that Advert

For a video/audio tutorial on commercial blogging have a look at Courtney Tuttle’s blog;-

http://CourtneyTuttle.com/2008/06/26/why-almost-everyone-should-be-starting-a-blog/

Thursday 12 March 2009
10.00 – 16.00
British Library Conference Centre
96 Euston Road
London NW1 2DB

This is a one-day conference for people with a disability who are interested in setting up a business or working for themselves, run by the British Library Business & IP Centre and Leonard Cheshire Disability.

The event includes a tailored programme of workshops and one-to-one advice sessions to help you get started. It will give you an overview of the different aspects of running a business which you need to be aware of, and the opportunities and support available to you, such as the Ready to Start programme. You will have the chance to network and make contact with like-minded people with similar aspirations and concerns. You might also find potential customers, business partners and suppliers.

During the event you can attend a workshop and have a one-to-one advice session with business and information experts from the British Library, Business Link for London, HM Revenue & Customs and the Ready to Start programme, which will give you the chance to ask specific questions and gain expert advice. Jobcentre Plus will be giving advice about in-work benefits and how they can help you make the transition from benefits to work.

The event is wheelchair-accessible and we will endeavour to cater to individual access needs if you tell us your requirements when you book.

Agenda

View our events calendar and book your place

Find out more about disabled access in the Library at http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/visits/access-guide.html

If you have any queries about this event please contact Gabrielle Rose on
+44 (0)20 7412 7080 or Clare Harris on +44 (0)20 7412 7257.