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I’m now on Day 9 of the 30-Day Blogging Challenge and I have learned so much. I am hoping that this is coming across in every post I write – though I know I still struggle with some of the things I should be using – like images.

Here is a round-up of all my posts from week 1.

Day 1 – 30-Day Blogging Challenge
In this post, I wanted to explain why I was doing the challenge and what I hoped to achieve

Day 2 – Small Business Bookkeeping
I wrote a little bit about bookkeeping while running a small business and suggested outsourcing as an option.

Day 3 – Continued Professional Development
It is very important that anyone working in a service based business keeps on top of the latest knowledge about their chosen field. CPD is one way to do that.

Day 4 – Blogging is a Minefield
I realised just how much work goes into writing a blog and maintaining it.

Day 5 – Tips for Businesses on Keeping Good Records
It is essential that a business keeps good receipts. I give a few tips on how to make sure your records are in good order and complete.

Day 6 – The Basics of Bookkeeping: Lesson 1
This post is the first in a series of bookkeeping lessons that I will be writing. This one talks about t-accounts and the double entry system.

Day 7 – 7 Things I’ve Learned About Blogging in One Week
I blogged about the things I had learned about in the first 7 days of the challenge.

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It is always great to hear from your clients and know that they are happy with the service, or product, that you provide. When you get a testimonial from a client make it work for you! Post about it on Facebook and Twitter, put it on your website and use it on promotional material.

We have received a lot of feedback from our customers over the years. Sometimes it is because we have requested a testimonial from a client to put on the site or a brochure, but sometimes it comes out of the blue after helping a client with a tricky problem. It doesn’t matter how it has come about, every time a client sends us a testimonial it makes us feel great. Knowing that we have done a good job and a client is pleased with the work we have done is a wonderful feeling.

I am going to share some of the feedback we have received from my clients. Each one is about a different service.

Kiddymania – We provide all aspects of bookkeeping for this client. Each week we process all sales and purchases information, and then every month we reconcile all of the bank accounts. We also deal with filing VAT returns, RTI and producing their year-end accounts so their accountant can file the tax return. They have been a client since 2008.
“I have been using Ihelm for a number of years and have always found them to be very professional but also offer the personal touch, making them highly approachable and helpful in all matters. I would not hesitate to recommend them for any of their services.‚ Judith, Kiddymania

RfM Chartered Accountants – This is a local accountant that we have worked with for a number of years, since 2011. We have provided regular bookkeeping such as entering all sales and purchases, bank reconciliations, and preparation and filing of VAT returns for several of their clients.
“Ihelm Enterprises works in a professional and friendly manner. They are incredibly efficient and work closely with us to provide a quick turnaround and to ensure that any bookkeeping they do is completely accurate and up to date.” Haines Watts (now known as RfM Chartered Accountants + more)

The Natural Nursery – We have worked with Arabella since 2006 when we provided payroll services for her. This then grew into providing hosting, website maintenance, and regular bookkeeping services.
“As a small business, I need an outsourced bookkeeping service that is responsive, accurate and fast. Ihelm provides all this and much more with their quick and efficient support. All our bookkeeping is completed quickly and accurately; regular reports are provided and queries are dealt with promptly meaning I can spend more time focusing on profit-making aspects of the business.” Arabella, The Natural Nursery

Naked Website & Graphic Design – We have worked with Lisa from Naked Website for several years, providing a number of services for her. We provide reseller hosting for Lisa and some of her clients also get their hosting directly from us. She also asks us for technical support on a variety of website projects. Naked Website has been a client since 2007.
“I specialise in websites and graphic design for small businesses and Work at Home Mums who generally have a very tight budget. Hosting with Ihelm is straightforward and easy and from my side of things a real time saver as they will set up WordPress ready databases and email addresses for my clients. I rely on Ihelm to help me out with their technical expertise when it comes to things like moving databases and coding PHP. I know my websites are in safe hands with them and I’d recommend them to everyone. Customer service is second to none and you get the personal care and attention you would never get with a large company. Ihelm every time!” – Lisa Cole, Naked Website

White Ochre Design – Meg has been a client since 2006. She sends a lot of her website clients to us for hosting, and we provide her with technical support and bespoke programming. We have worked with Meg on quite a number of large projects over the years.
“I’ve been using Ihelm-Enterprises Ltd for hosting and development work for over eight years now and am so happy I found them all that time ago! Not only are they reliable, offer great services and are incredibly quick to respond, Arianna is friendly and great to work with. Michael is very knowledgeable and has the skill set I lack when it comes to bespoke web development or sorting out techy problems. We have a really great working relationship and what they offer in terms of hosting is just perfect for myself as a business owner and also for my clients. I highly recommend Ihelm Enterprises for hosting and web development work.” Meg Fenn,¬†White Ochre Design Ltd

Knowing that your clients are happy with the services/products you provide contributes to a feeling of job satisfaction and makes what you do so worthwhile.

If you would like to know more about the services we provide contact me via the Contact Us Page, our Facebook Page, or on Twitter.

As a web hosting company, we sometimes get involved in the other side of copyright infringement.

Normally in a blog post about copyright you will either read about how to avoid copyright issues, or how someone has been accused of copyright infringement. However, we get involved on the other side.

The first thing we know about copyright issues is usually an e-mail. This e-mail will be sent after notification (or if there are no contact methods for the site owner) have been ignored by the site owner. A notification will tell us what the offending site is, where the content can be found and also specify who is the copyright holder.

Usually, these notices require us to act within a short period of time (24 – 72 hours), otherwise, the contact will go up to the providers of our services (and we don’t want those to turn off our network connections!). So how do we investigate?

1. We check to see if the site is really hosted by us (yes sometimes we might get requests even if we don’t host a site, usually if we used to host it).
2. Assuming we host it, we check to see if we can access the content specified. It is not too uncommon for a mistake to be made, and the content is not hosted on the site – but linked to from the site. That in itself is not a copyright infringement – but we will notify our customer of the issue (but can’t take it down if it isn’t on our server!). We would also notify the company involved of the findings as well.
3. If it’s on our servers we will not remove it immediately (we only have one side of the story at this point). We will get in touch with our customer and notify them about the potential breach. Usually, they will remove it.
4. If the content isn’t removed after 24 hours (or less depending on the timeframe we have) we investigate further. If we can find the disputed content elsewhere and it appears to be linked to the complaining company we will most likely suspend the customer’s site (this usually means they get in touch anyway – bearing in mind they haven’t responded to us so far).

If the content does not appear to be on the complaining companies sites we will seek clarification (people can abuse these notices to try to remove competition online). We would continue to contact our customer.

It’s a tricky situation where we have to both honour our customers who pay us for the service, but if a legal issue arises we also have to act to remain legal.

Would we ever suspend a customer immediately?

No – we would always try to get in touch with them. However, if it is our providers re-laying a cease order we will often have to act in a lot smaller timeframe and may end up taking suspension action within a few hours to avoid problems for the rest of our customers.