We’ve been doing quite a lot of work with travel websites and holiday accommodation providers recently, so I thought this might be a good time to summarise our top tips. 1) Take your time and get good photography. Your whole operation will be judged on the photos you show on your website, so make… Continue reading Eight Top Tips for Smaller Accommodation Websites
Category: Blog
Clare Associates Is Watching You – and that’s a good thing!
Just so you know, Google Analytics is installed on this website. Google Analytics is a free website visitor analytics system which we use routinely on most of the websites that we work with. It logs information like : what searches were run that brought searchers to this site? which posts did people look at? what… Continue reading Clare Associates Is Watching You – and that’s a good thing!
Some businesses throw money at a problem; some businesses throw time at a problem. There is a third way…
Quite often at Clare Associates we find ourselves picking up the pieces of previous attempts to solve business problems, especially with the company website. Usually these problems can be traced back to the decisions taken when this website was first developed. The first type of business has money to spend, but no time. They say… Continue reading Some businesses throw money at a problem; some businesses throw time at a problem. There is a third way…
Copyright and linking to copyright content: do you know the risks?
I don’t know if this post is really really obvious or not at all obvious. Maybe not at all obvious, from the sheer quantity of copyrighted images, music, books and video flying around the web in places where the copyright owner has not authorised them to be. I’m leaving entirely aside the morality of, say,… Continue reading Copyright and linking to copyright content: do you know the risks?
We’re well into the 21st Century now. So why does so much marketing feel like we’re still in 1900?
Marketing historians will sometimes tell you that marketing in anything resembling a modern sense began somewhere between the end of the 19th and the start of the 20th century. Since that time, marketing has supposedly become more scientific, more enlightened, more aware. Looking around today at the approach taken by quite a few companies, I’m… Continue reading We’re well into the 21st Century now. So why does so much marketing feel like we’re still in 1900?
Entrepreneurs and wannabe entrepreneurs – don’t waste your time on gurus, just get out there and work!
Many years ago, back in the first dotcom boom, I was working for one of the Big 4 accountancy firms. As the office “eCommerce Champion”, one of my jobs was to try to flog stuff to advise dotcom startups. Some senior partner had observed that “the best way to make money in a gold rush… Continue reading Entrepreneurs and wannabe entrepreneurs – don’t waste your time on gurus, just get out there and work!
Forcing people to do things they don’t want to do is no way to build a team
There was a fad a few years back for companies to send teams of employees (or maybe just managers) on a certain kind of ‘team-building’ activity. These would always be outdoors and would involve some strenuous (and often muddy) physical activity, maybe paintballing or even an army assault course. I’ve seen a few of these… Continue reading Forcing people to do things they don’t want to do is no way to build a team
If your people are your “most important business resource”, why don’t you ask them what they think?
Here’s a good business cliche, the sort that David Brent would use: “Your people are your most important business resource.” But if you look at how many businesses are run, you might assume that people are only a useful business resource because they are cheaper than robots. Work for a big company, and you might… Continue reading If your people are your “most important business resource”, why don’t you ask them what they think?
Do you need all those levels of management? Do you really need that extra manager?
If you read cartoons like Dilbert, one common theme you’ll come across is that of the poor downtrodden worker who knows more about his job than his boss. In Dilbert’s case, he’s a hardworking and brilliant engineer. His ‘pointy-haired boss’ is pretty clueless about Dilbert’s work and, well pretty much everything really. Above the pointy-haired… Continue reading Do you need all those levels of management? Do you really need that extra manager?
Important Economics Concepts Every Businessman Should Know, Number 3: Elasticity
In my last Clare Associates blog post, I looked at aggregate demand curves and aggregate supply curves. We know that for a given product, demand is higher if the price is lower and supply is higher if the price is higher, and how in a competitive market, the market price will tend to the intersection… Continue reading Important Economics Concepts Every Businessman Should Know, Number 3: Elasticity