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InSynch was amongst only 12 Welsh
businesses who were invited to attend a
prestigious
Investors in People award ceremony recently.
Jane Davidson, Minister for Education Lifelong Learning and Skills, presented the Directors of InSynch with their plaque at the National Assembly Building in Cardiff to mark the 15th birthday of the Investors in People (IiP) standard. InSynch Business Services Ltd., who has offices in both Aberystwyth and Machynlleth, attained the Investors in People standard in July 2006. Businesses from a range of sectors across Wales gathered at the Assembly Building to celebrate the success of the Investors in People (IiP) Standard and to be presented with their recognition plaques. Investors in People is the UK standard which links the development of people to a firm’s business objectives. It puts emphasis on managing people well to improve performance. Research at a national level has consistently shown that Investors in People companies are more successful on the whole than organisations that do not work to the Standard. Independent all Wales research through York Consulting confirmed the benefits of IiP, with 57% of respondents saying that the main benefit of achieving the standard was increased staff motivation, while 45% cited an improvement in the level of staff satisfaction. The research also revealed the key benefits of
continuing to be recognised under the IiP
standard,
such as increased profile and reputation of the
business, a growing appreciation of the need to
monitor and review business processes and
enhanced
staff motivation.
Speaking at the launch, the Minister said: “Over the last fifteen years more and more organisations are recognising the benefits of IiP and we’ve seen increasing numbers achieving the standard through the years. Independent research has also confirmed what we’ve long known, IiP works.” “Since the National Assembly for Wales was established, we have wholeheartedly supported the Standard and our package to support organisations to work towards and with the Standard is second to none. Through our Workforce Development Programme, we will continue to promote the Standard to new organisations and through our network of advisors we will work with them to achieve the Standard. “For those organisations already recognised we have recently enhanced our support for maintaining that recognition and have introduced a new series of Clubs and IiP facilitator training courses. We firmly believe in IiP and the benefits it brings to organisations, to the people who work in them, and of course to the Welsh economy and education service.” PHOTOGRAPH (left to right): Eddy Webb, Director of InSynch, Jane Davidson, Minister, Simon Jones of IiP (UK) and Anna L. Prytherch, Director of InSynch, receiving the plaque. |
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Working in association with the University of
Glamorgan, InSynch
Business Services Ltd. is pleased to offer
courses in
PRINCE2 Project Management at two venues in
mid
Wales in 2007. This much sought after
qualification
will appeal to both sole traders and large
organisations who realize the increasing
significance
the qualification plays in today’s business
environment.
What is PRINCE2?<br> PRINCE2 - PRojects IN Controlled Environments is a written description of how to manage a project in a logical, organised way, following defined steps. It is not a tool or a technique, but a structured management process which emphasises the importance of an organised and controlled start, middle and end to a project. PRINCE2 is considered internationally as the best practice framework for Project Management. Owned by the Office of Government Commerce and launched in 1996, PRINCE2 has become the UK’s de facto standard process for all types of projects. The widespread use of PRINCE2 owes much to the fact that it is an easily tailored and scaleable method that can be applied to all projects and situations across all sectors. Initially designed for use within the public sector, its phenomenal success has seen it increasingly being adopted by forward thinking private sector companies. PRINCE2 can be used for any type of project, regardless of scope, size and sector PRINCE2 provides all delegates with a common language that is used to manage the project. Who should attend
Individuals who have a project management role and want to demonstrate recognised level of competence through a formal qualification. PRINCE2 courses are well-known throughout prove and public sector organisations. Newly appointed managers who want to understand a controlled approach to managing projects would also benefit from attending this course. Qualification Delegates who pass the Practitioner examination are wared the qualification of registered PRINCE2TM Practitioner. Course dates and locations The following two courses are 5 days long and are the PRINCE2 Practitioners Course, which includes the PRINCE2 Foundation Course. Aberystwyth Park Lodge Hotel 19th February 2007 to 23rd February 2007 Welshpool Royal Oak Hotel 12th March 2007 to 16th March 2007 The PRINCE2 Cityscape logoTM is a Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce and is Registered in the U.S Patent and Trademark Office. |
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In every newsletter, we are bringing you 2 of our
top
ten search engine tips that will help you get
more
traffic from the search engines.
The top ten are: 1. Choose the right keyphrases 2. Optimise every page on your Web site 3. Optimise your Page Titles and other Meta Tags 4. Optimise your Page Content 5. Undertake a reciprocal links campaign 6. Use keywords in hyperlinks, filenames and image text 7. Make sure your site is search engine friendly 8. Do not spam the Search Engines 9. Update your site regularly 10. Buy the right domain names and use them to your advantage In the last issue we covered undertaking a reciprocal links campaign and putting keyphrases in hyperlinks, file names and image text. This issue we are covering tips 7 and 8. 7. Make sure your site is search engine friendly You may be very proud of your Web site and indeed you may have every right to be. More and more Web sites are using Flash and Javascript to make Web pages more visually attractive. However, if your Web site contains Flash and Javascript it's important to know that search engine spiders can't read this code and they certainly can’t see or appreciate your impressive design efforts. You can check what the search engines actually see by going to www.webconf s.co m and using the search engine spider simulator. This will reveal what text and links the search engines are visible to search engines. We have, on many occasions, come across Web sites where the method of providing interactive navigation menus has rendered the search engines unable to crawl through the site and index the other pages. The way around this is to provide navigation alternatives that allow the spiders crawl deep within your Web site and index the Web pages within their results. Framed Web sites are can also cause problems with search engines. A framed Web site is essentially a way of constructing a page by actually merging two or more pages together to display in a browser. For example, a page may be displayed down the left hand side with links, a page across the top which contains a logo and some pictures, with a main page that contains the main content for the page. When a user clicks on a navigational link, the main page changes and the other pages stay the same. A framed site can also be identified by scroll bars within the page itself. Search engines have problems navigating framed Web sites and even if they can, the home page (which is the most important page as we discussed in the last issue) will contain little or no text altogether for the search engines to index, as it just contains code telling the browser where to display the pages in the frameset. A quick check of your site on the search engine spider simulator mentioned above will reveal any problems with search engines seeing your site. Solutions The first option is to redesign or restructure the site. You can actually achieve the same look on your site by using a simple table design. The second option is to utilise the no frames section your pages. This section of code on a framed site was originally intended for people with old Web browsers that can’t display framed sites. However, you can use this section to help the search engines get around your site. At the very least you should provide links to the other pages on your site for the search engines to follow. However, for search engine optimisation purposes you can actually create a full Web page that is well optimised for the search engines and then copy the HTML code into the no frames section. Doing either of the above will boost your visibility in the search engines but a side effect is that people may find some of your main pages without the surrounding frames. This is overcome by including prominent links to your home page on every page and/or including a small piece of readily available javascript code on each page that recognises when people come to a page without the benefit of other frames and redirects them to the home page. This script is readily available on the Internet. If you do have a framed site then the good news is that by overcoming the barriers it presents to search engines, you can have a large impact on your position in the search engines and therefore see increased Web site traffic. 8. Do not spam the search
engines
In the early days of the Internet and search engines, Web masters tried lots of tricks to mislead the search engines into ranking their sites higher in the listings. Search engines are aware of these old, crude tricks and will drop your site down their listings or even remove it altogether if they detect them. Here are a few Don’ts for the search engines: Meta refresh tags (redirects user to new page) – You may use these to innocently move people from the entry page of your Web site to the main section of your site. However, unscrupulous Web masters make pages that are optimised for the search engines for particular topics and then redirect people to sites of a different nature altogether. Entry pages are not good for search engines anyway as they contain very little text. If you must have an entry page, then use a prominent hyperling rather than an automatic refresh/forwarding. Invisible text / tiny text – Don’t try and cram lots of keywords on your page by having white text on a white background or very small text. The search engines are watching! Instead go for lots of keyphrase rich text throughout your site. Excessive repetition/off-topic keywords – Dont be tempted to repeat your keywords over and over again on your site in order to trick the search engines. It won’t work. Also don’t think that by including off topic popular search phrases on your site you will get more traffic. These popular search phrases will be very competitive with other Web sites and even if you do get near the top, the traffic you attract won’t be very targetted. Overuse of mirror sites (replicas of existing site) – Having exact copies of your Web site on other domain names, in an attempt to get more visitors, will be picked up by search engines. More on making the most of domain names in the next issue. |
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InSynch Business Services is pleased to have
secured a fully portable IT training suite. The
introduction of this facility enables training to be
delivered within company premises or in any
room
hired for the purpose.
The training suite comprises of a set of six, high specification laptops, with a comprehensive range of software installed, accompanied by a wireless laser printer, multimedia projector and screen. We even have a miriad of wired and wireless routers to facilitate an Internet connection in most locations. We will be using the suite to deliver our own courses, such as the recent successful IT Workshops for Businesses, and many others that we will be launching in the new year. We are also able to create bespoke courses to meet individual needs. The Mobile IT Training suite is also available for
hire,
with full technical support provided. For more
information about the suite, to enquire about
hiring it
or to request information on our courses, please
contact us using the link below.
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Dont forget to join one of the 10,000 businesses in Wales who have had a free Opportunity Wales eCommerce review! Click here to request yours!
Nadolig Llawen - Happy Christmas
Eddy and Anna
InSynch Business Services Ltd
phone:
01654 703777
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