Starting a business in St Helens

Since January this year the St Helens Chamber have helped 38 new businesses to start up creating over 60 new jobs! Supported by funding from St Helens Council, the Chamber is committed to helping new and existing businesses in the borough through these trying times. The Chamber offers advice and a series of workshops aimed at delivering all the essential things that a new business owner should know including book keeping, marketing, and tax issues.

Start your own business in St Helens

If you have an idea for a new business and would like to know what help is available to you then why not attend the "Be your own Boss" event on Wednesday 5^th December, 6pm – 8pm at the St Helens Chamber. To book a place call 0845 340 9980 or click here

Web Design For Small Businesses

When you're starting a small business it's often tempting to either shelve your web design plans or worse, use one of the many "build it yourself" type web packages such as 1&1. Often this choice is dictated by a tight budget and whilst it seems a good idea at the time it's very rare to ever get good results from such a website regardless of how much time you devote to it.

A St Helens Web Design Company G Wiz have come up with a solution for start up businesses who aren't able to stretch to a custom built website straight away. G Wiz who offer web design and SEO services have recently introduced a "Pay Monthly" Web Design package in addition to their existing services. G Wiz were often approached by start up businesses in St Helens who couldn't factor in the cost of a custom website. The company already offers web design packages from as little as £295 but there were still a lot of small businesses who needed something cheaper.

Keen to help these businesses flourish, G Wiz have launched a CMS website system aimed specifically at helping smaller businesses get off the ground. Start ups and small businesses in Merseyside can now pay just £20 per month to rent a fully functional and SEO friendly website. For more details on pay monthly web design in Merseyside visit www.wizweb.org

Help for St Helens Businesses

If you're in business in St Helens and you've survived the past few years, now is a good time to look to the future and to prepare to take advantage of not just the forthcoming Christmas season but also the increase in business as the economy finds its wings again.

Let's be honest, businesses not only in St Helens but all over the UK and indeed the world have faced some extremely tough times. If you were shrewd and smart enough to survive then now's the time to remove the battens from the hatches, let some fresh air in and make plans to move forward. 

Making Business Plans

The face of business is changing in St Helens, the typical business model of old is unrecognisable in the town today, the markets and town centre have given way to hypermarket complexes, Spending habits have changed, the leisure industry has had to adapt since the smoking ban and we've seen traditional pubs either reinvent themselves as pub restaurants or close their doors. Whilst it's sad to see any local business shut up shop it does increase the market for those that survive. 

Peoples buying habits have changed too, with the vast majority of the population now online people tend to shop from their laptop rather than browse shop fronts. What does this mean for you?

People still like to buy locally but they will research things on the internet first. Whereas up until a few years ago a decent roadside location and an advert in the St Helens Star or Reporter would have brought regular business to your door, people now expect to be able to simply type a search into Google and research a purchase from their armchair. The vast majority of people would still rather buy face to face as oppose to online for payment security reasons but none the less, the research more often than not is done via the internet. Online sales have continued to grow even during the recession, last year alone they increased by 14%

Web Design St Helens

So how can you take advantage of this shift in buying? Well first of you should already have a website, if not then you need to speak to a web designer. Find a local web designer in St Helens who has experience of your market, is local so you can chat to him whenever necessary and who can understand your business and it's place in St Helens. Get your business online, showcase what it is you do, reach out to the people in the town and say "Hey, we're here in St Helens and we're online! 

Having a website gives you the opportunity to have a salesman working for you 24 hours a day. It gives you the opportunity to put your business in the best light possible but it also does so much more. You can interact with your customer base, you can even extend your reach outside of the town, as far as you like! If you already have a website then take a good look at it, have you had a website designed a few years ago and just neglected it since? Be honest, if so then have it redesigned. Have it optimised so that it is high up on Google search. Do you have a Facebook page? If not then you are missing out on a massive opportunity here. Facebook in conjunction with a website is a fantastic way of communicating with customers and increasing public awareness. 

If all this makes your head hurt then fear not, There is help and advice waiting for you at you at the St Helens Chamber of Commerce alternatively there is an excellent St Helens Web Design Company called Gwiz who can design a new website or redesign an old one for just a few hundred pounds. They can also help you to get onto Facebook and Twitter. 

It's understandable that this may worry some business owners in St Helens, the face of business is changing so rapidly but only the foolish will ignore the benefits of being online. If you've come this far already then your business has proven itself to be strong. Reinforce that strength by arming it with the advantage of a website and watch it thrive. 

GWiz Web Design St Helens

Funding for small businesses in St Helens may be a reality

UK businesses have suffered from chronic under funding for years. As far back as 1931 a report was produced highlighting that small to medium sized enterprises in the UK were severely underfunded.

Traditional banks have never been keen to invest in small business enterprises certainly not without the assurance of a secured guarantee usually taken on a Directors family home. Furthermore, who has ever met a business banker that actually understands their business, or come to that any kind of business! As a result it would seem that there has been little in the way of assistance for entrepreneurs in the UK for years, For those that do make it off the ground they can look forward to ever increasing tax and excise at every point.

1) Mine Iron Ore

Sell it + VAT

2) Process the Ore

Sell it + Vat

3) Make Pig Iron

Sell it + Vat

4) Make Steel

Sell it + Vat

5) Create steel panels

Sell it + Vat

6) Manufacture Car

Sell it + Vat

Any wonder then that inflation is always climbing? It's acceptable to tax a business when it's established as long as you've assisted it in it's infancy. It's only the same as us raising our kids, paying for their education and their first car but then charging them a few quid "keep" each week once they find employment. That's perfectly acceptable,  Imagine however if we'd have sent them out to work when they were still in nappies and then taken all their earnings.

Back to funding....

The UK is currently the only member of the G8 that does not have a government institution that provides knowledge and funding for small business. All the other members have dedicated organisations that provides funding and guidance for small businesses.  In the UK, the Government and the banks are happy to leave our small enterprises in the gutter.

The USA has a Small Business Administration (SBA), this organisation provided funding for Apple when it was just a fledging small business. That's wise investment!

The USA can often be criticised but they do look after their industry. When our limp wristed officials fell over themselves to sign the Kyoto agreement, the USA administration refused to do so as they were concerned about how it would cripple their industries. That's a caring government, one that considers the consequences.

Past government initiatives have shown promise, but have simply failed before they even got started. The government loan guarantee scheme was a farce from start to finish, in fact one could argue that it was almost a scandal! How many small businesses desperate for help approached their bank for details of that scheme only to be turned away as the bank had little knowledge and no inclination to help them. Instead, despite massive losses and record liquidations the banks dished internal bonuses around like smarties.

Our businesses need and deserve some real help if the UK is going to see any signs of recovery. The opposition have been making noises this week about a similar initiative, a government investment bank. Hopefully this will rattle the powers that be into action. And quick!