Be part of something bigger

This workshop is the first of a 2-part series aimed at people who are planning to start or have just started a business and need to know the basics of what to do.

This workshop is the first of a 2-part series aimed at people who are planning to start or have just started a business and need to know the basics of what to do. You will leave the workshop understanding the skills you need and the actions you need to take to start their business.

This workshop will help you understand:

• the main reasons business fail
• the importance of planning for success
• the importance of market research and how to do it
• what resources you will require and
• the basic requirements for setting up e.g. registration, insurance, tax & VAT
• This half day workshop will be practical and results-oriented. After introducing each topic and explaining relevance, we will introduce tools that can be applied at that stage. Participants will have the opportunity to discuss and plan how they will implement these tools.

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Every business needs a website, and if budget is tight, then you might prefer to build one yourself. Introducing WordPress – one of the most popular web building systems used on millions of sites

Every business needs a website, and if budget is tight, then you might prefer to build one yourself.Introducing WordPress – one of the most popular web building systems used on millions of sites across the world.This work shop will be delivered over 2 half days. In order to get the most out of this workshop, clients are asked to bring along a laptop.

Part 1

We’ll begin this session with brief outline of some of the basic components of a business website. What pages do you need to create, what messages do you want to tell, what is the purpose of your website?

You’ll learn how to create a WordPress account, choose a theme (a design), create some basic web pages, and be introduced to Blogging!

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If you are planning to grow your business over the next few years, this session will really get you thinking. It is a day out of the office to think about your strategy for growth, your target market

Digital marketing can deliver real world business growth, and this workshop will show you a practical strategy for success.

This inspiring workshop will guide you through the practical steps needed to design a digital marketing strategy to meet your business objectives and create more leads.

Successful strategies have three key elements: Content Creation, Content Publication and Content Amplification©. You will learn time-efficient techniques for developing these elements so you can confidently drive more traffic to your website.

We’ll help you understand the digital trends and equip you to work more strategically with the big search engines (Google, Yahoo and Bing) to improve the quality of your search results. We will show you how to plan more engaging email newsletters and posts on social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

This is a ‘DigitalBoost’ event which is funded by Digital Scotland and delivered by Business Gateway.

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Join us for an introduction to business blogging. What is a blog? How can blogging help your business to attract new clients?

Curious about how blogging for business works, what options are out there, and why you should consider it as part of your marketing strategy? Then this course is for you.

You will learn blogging best practices, and get inspiration about the types of blogs you might consider writing in order to best market your product or services online.

*Delegates may wish to bring either a laptop, tablet or smartphone

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This workshop is ideal for those looking to increase the effectiveness of their paid advertising and digital marketing strategy.

After completing this workshop you will be able to make more informed decisions about where paid-for advertising fits in to your strategy. We will explore the relative merits of all the different types of paid-for online options available to you, as well as the mix of social media platforms you can choose from.

The event also covers strategy, ad content guidelines and ad sizes, keyword planning, tracking and analysis to optimise your campaigns. You will gain a clearer understanding of how to evaluate and analyse existing social media advertising campaigns, pinpoint areas for improvement, and be on top of legal guidelines.

This is a ‘DigitalBoost’ event which is funded by Digital Scotland and delivered by Business Gateway in partnership with Scottish Enterprise and Highlands & Islands Enterprise.

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This workshop is the second of a 2-part series. You will leave this workshop with an understanding of the skills you need and the actions you need to take to market and manage your business.

This workshop will:

• Provide an introduction to marketing
• Outline the basic elements of creating a marketing plan
• Highlight the key aspects which need to be managed in the business
• Outline the basic elements of how to manage the books

This half day workshop will be practical and results-oriented. After introducing each topic and explaining .the relevance, we will introduce tools that can be applied at that stage. You will have the opportunity to discuss and plan how you will implement these tools.

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A direct follow on from the “Build your own Website Part 1” – we pick up where we left off, and continue creating our WordPress website – this time adding your own specific text and images

A direct follow on from the “Build your own Website Part 1” – we pick up where we left off, and continue creating our WordPress website – this time adding your own specific text and images that you pulled together between the two sessions.

We’ll spend some time highlighting the importance of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), and show you how to ensure your own content is optimised, while flagging up the features of WordPress that can really help get you noticed on Google.

Finally we’ll look at taking things further – with the addition of WordPress plugins and widgets!We’ll show you how to add eCommerce functionality, and integrate your social media into your website, as well as discussing the many other options available to you

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A workshop for businesses that already use Twitter as part of their digital marketing strategy, and wish to produce more engaging content, reach a wider audience and measure the effectiveness.

This workshop will help you develop and hone your social media strategy in order to amplify your message. You will gain a deeper understanding of where Twitter fits into your overall plan, how it relates to other platforms, and the relative benefits of sponsored posts, as well as how to create them.

We will also go through the features of Hootsuite in order to help you manage and integrate your social media accounts. This includes learning about advanced techniques for creating and publishing content, and delegating tasks to other team members. Legal requirements and best practice frameworks will also be covered.

This is a ‘DigitalBoost’ event which is funded by Digital Scotland and delivered by Business Gateway.

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This workshop is aimed at established and existing businesses which are looking to prepare their first self-assessment or alternatively require a refresher on completing.

This workshop is aimed at established and existing businesses which are looking to prepare their first self-assessment or alternatively require a refresher on completing.

The aim of this workshop is to allow the person to leave with a greater knowledge of how to complete a self-assessment form, to ensure they have the right information ready to complete the self-assessment process, to ensure they understand what to fill in and also to make sure they are claiming for every allowance that they should be. As a result of this session, delegates will be able to:

1. Determine who must complete a self-assessment tax return
2. Understand how and when to register for self-assessment
3. Be aware of HMRC deadlines and penalties
4. Understand how to obtain an estimate of their income tax liability
5. Be able to complete the relevant sections of a self-assessment tax return for their business
6. Know where to go for further information, help and advice

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