M & A Rainmaker

If you are looking for small business phone systems and you live near Telford or Shrewsbury in Shropshire then I highly recommend that you talk to Vanilla Communications

http://www.vanillacomms.co.uk/

who have recently become a Cisco FutureLine Partner

http://www.futureline.net.uk/

and who are able to provide a full communications solution. They say :

” VANILLAcomms is an independent and whole market provider of Business Communications solutions. We work with you to provide the entire communications platform, comprising of Mobile, Fixed Line, Data, Conferencing and IT Services.

Let VANILLAcomms take the stress out of Business Communications for you, allowing you time to focus on your business.

Whether you are simply looking to save money on your monthly mobile telephone costs, undertaking a full audit and reconfiguration of your communications infrastructure, or somewhere in between, VANILLAcomms will create relevant and effective solutions for you.”

If you are looking for a dog friendly pub near Holywell, Flintshire, North Wales then try The Glan yr Afon Inn which takes dog friendliness to new levels ! Sometimes when you go in there it looks like Crufts with some fantastic dogs around. Having said that there are a lot of cross breeds such as Cavapoos  which would not be allowed into Crufts !

On Sundays the owners will often appear with little bowls of meat offcuts for the dogs ( amounts available depending on the number of freshly cooked Sunday Dinners done that day ) and on normal days there are usually dog biscuits being handed out.

Well behaved dogs are allowed in the rooms and with there being a number of breeders around you will often see people there who have come to collect their new puppies.

There are great dog walking places nearby e.g. Halkyn Mountain or along the River Dee so this is just doggie heaven really !!

For more details see The Glan’s website

http://www.glanyrafoninn.co.uk/

The best Sunday Dinner near Holywell in Flintshire is to found at The Glan yr Afon Inn, Milwr, Dolphin, Holywell, North Wales. The website is at  http://www.glanyrafoninn.co.uk/ . Food is served at The Glan from 12-9 every day with Sunday Lunch and Dinner being served from 12-9 every Sunday although, depending on how busy they are, some of the items on the Sunday Lunch and Dinner menu may be gone toward the end of the day.

Typically the menu has  fresh cooked vegetables and a variety of meats depending on what is available e.g. Local Beef, Lamb, Pork, Buffalo Beef, Chicken etc etc.

Whilst there may be places doing cheaper Sunday Lunch and Dinner The Glan’s is probably the best.

The Glan yr Afon Inn is a 16th Century Coaching Inn ( on the old Chester to Holywell coaching route ) and overlooks the River Dee with views across the Wirral to Liverpool and beyond.

Call The Glan on 01352 710052

Which HubSpot partners in the U.K. will achieve a high ranking position in Google searches ??

HubSpot partners in the U.K. should now consider the Six Figure Mentors system being promoted via the Digital Experts Academy global network

I am finding it quite interesting watching old and new HubSpot partners fighting for a top ranking position in a ” HubSpot U.K. ” or ” HubSpot in the U.K. ” Google.

http://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sa=N&hl=en&tab=lw#hl=en&sugexp=gsih&xhr=t&q=hubspot+in+the+UK&cp=17&pf=p&sclient=psy&site=webhp&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=hubspot+in+the+UK&pbx=1&fp=ff01f0aca6245e1d

As HubSpot  expands it’s business globally beyond the U.S.   getting more direct customers and partners, the HubSpot partners themselves are making a ” land grab ” for prominence.

How are they doing this ??

STOP PRESS !!! January 2013 – The Internet Marketing Ecosystem ( mentioned below ) has now been incorporated into Centripetal Network Consultings’ Digital Marketing Ecosystem. Watch this video >>>> HERE <<<< to see how a system that provides all of the functionality of a HubSpot system at a much lower cost has evolved over the last couple of years.

The first three organic search positions are, perhaps unsurprisingly, held by HubSpot themselves with posts on the inbound.org site

http://inbound.org/questions/960/uk-hubspot-partner

and posts on the HubSpot.com website.

http://newsofthemedia.com/2011/02/google-algorithm-change-targets-content-farms/

The comes StrangePR.com for the next couple of entries who, typically for a PR company, reckon that they are HubSpot’s ( only ) U.K. partner.  A quick look at ” Page Source ” for their website pages shows that Titles and Metatags reflect the content and that ” HubSpot ” and ” U.K. ” are liberally scattered throughout the content, titles and metatags.

Next comes Advanced Marketing Concept’s Blog page

http://www.admarco.net/resources/company-news/bid/30271/Advanced-Marketing-Concepts-achieves-HubSpot-Partner-Status

Admarco appears to have a presence in the U.S.  ( San Francisco Bay Area. ) and the U.K.

The next entry is from Wired Magazine and promotes HubSpot itself rather than a partner.

Then you have the HubSpot User Group post from GMIG

http://www.gmig.co.uk/hubspot-user-group-uk/

I understand that someone at HubSpot made a conscious decision to allow this new partner to set up a U.K. HubSpot User Group. It’s a great way to get prominence !

The actual user group is on Linkedin:

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3688027

Next we have a Slideshare presentation from Kpi Insight Consulting

http://www.slideshare.net/HubSpot/kpicase-studypdf

and then a TrafficTroop ( Ireland ) website entry

http://www.traffictroop.com/contact-us-0/UK-Hubspot-Services-Ireland/

to finish off Page 1 of Google.

On Page 2 of the search for ” HubSpot U.K. ” you have GMIG again and then Strong Marketing’s entry:

http://strongmktg.com/hubspot-partner/

and then…….. ooooh ! it’s me 😉 – posting here on the M&A Rainmaker blogsite.

So lets stop there shall we – except for a quick comment that it is rather dissapointing ( at least to me ) to see a HubSpot U.K. partner paying for Pay per Click in order to provide discounted HubSpot pricing !! Really ???? Already ???

We can assume that the websites and blogsites being used have a relatively high Google rank which is giving them thier ” authority “.

So congratulations to those HubSpot U.K. partners who are ranking high and good luck for the future !!

Note: February 2012

This blog continues to rank high for searches on ” HubSpot U.K. ” and ” HubSpot Partners U.K. ” which shows the power of a WordPress based blog. It looks to me like there is going to be a big fight soon between HubSpot and WordPress based alternatives – if this is not already happening. HubSpot appears to have moved it’s focus upmarket by increasing the minimum monthly fee and this will increase the opportunity for WordPress based options. For U.K. customers HubSpot’s service appears to be taking a dive. Watch this space.

http://www.hobo-web.co.uk/seo-blog/

Note: January 2013

After putting development effort into the ” Internet Marketing Ecosystem ” last year we adopted the Six Figure Mentors WordPress based  Digital Marketing System in August/September of 2012 . More information can be obtained on this by going to my WordPress based personal website >>>>HERE  <<<<. The S.F.M. Digital Marketing System is being promoted globally by the Digital Experts Academy.

Potential HubSpot partners in the U.K. may also like to consider the S.F.M. / D.E.A. system as an alternative.

In 2009 we sold 5i Limited to what became 365iT plc ( formerly Impera plc ) which is run by Peter MacLean, who helped build Guardian iT into a £110m business.

I originally invested in 5i Limited in around 2002 when finance would have been virtually impossible to raise for a Hi-tech start-up of this nature.

The original investment period was 3-5 years but I gave 5i’s management until 2009 to produce a return on my investment.

So, post the sale of 5i Limited to 365iT, what has happened ?? What does the future look like ??

365iT is pursuing a buy and build strategy – looking for suitable, complementary hi-tech companies to add  to it’s portfolio. It has raised funds from e.g. LMS Capital, the South East Growth Fund and Sussex Place Ventures.

It bought  7 Global from LMS Capital and also acquired Fox I.T. last year.

I will be posting a series of blogs on the post sale performance and my recommendations to other companies that are considering becoming part of 365iT.

Cloud Computing is destined to be one of  the most active Hi-Tech sectors for Mergers & Acquisitions in the U.K. in 2011 according to this article

http://www.itpro.co.uk/629173/cloud-computing-companies-to-boost-m-a-in-2011

which comments on Deloitte’s bi-annual survey of U.K. based Hi-Tech companies.

Within Cloud Computing Hosted Telephony and Unified Communications is one of the growth niche’s.

Innovative companies like FutureLine, which is being supported by Cisco Systems, are addressing specific market segments e.g. Highly distributed SMB’s.

A Cisco spokesperson said:

“We are seeing an increasing demand for managed and hosted solutions in the voice space and this is especially the case for smaller businesses with less than 20 employees. FutureLine have a refreshingly new approach by addressing the key fundamentals of quality, security and ease of use and deployment. This is all underpinned by partnering with Cisco who fully understand how to manage different media provided by the various consumption models.”

Andy Brocklehurst
RSM Cisco Small Business

We are getting some great positions in Google searches for our test client FutureLine by following the Hubspot process in the U.K.

e.g. for ” Cisco Hosted Voice UK ”

http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&sugexp=gsih&xhr=t&q=cisco+hosted+voice+uk&cp=21&pf=p&sclient=psy&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=cisco+hosted+voice+uk&pbx=1&fp=ab718b42c52c1c5f

We put some thought into our key words and phrases a few weeks ago and then a week or so ago we revisited the web page titles and meta data and  entered certain of these words and phrases.

Together with this blog and related sites we are occupying four of the page one search results and whereas competitors e.g. Cloudnet and Teleappliant are paying for Pay Per Click rankings we have high organic positions for free ( well, excluding our time and effort 😉

I was listening to  a HubSpot Inbound Marketing webinar, that was being transmitted to the U.K. and other countries around the world, the other day when the statement was made ” people spend loads of money and time on the look and design of their website when what they should be spending money on  is being found AND converting people that find the website into leads “.

As I was driving from North Wales to the Midlands today I was thinking how true that was and how pointless it was to have a great looking website that nobody found!

It was, I thought, a bit like having a great looking house in a very undesirable neighbourhood.

Which led me to that well known saying of Estate Agents and property developers ” Location, location, location “.

A definition of which might be :

which I found here

http://homebuying.about.com/od/marketfactstrends/qt/013008_location.htm

and we might translate that into:

” identical websites may be more or less valuable ( productive ? ) depending on their location ( position ) in search engine searches ”  .

Yes, if two websites were designed or looked exactly the same but one got found and converted visitors into leads whilst the other did not get found or even got found but did not convert visitors into leads then that would make the same website much more valuable.

Furthermore if we add this property view:

A new Cisco based Hosted Telephony service is available, via selected Cisco partners, in Liverpool, U.K.
Cisco Hosted Telephony ( otherwise known as Hosted Voip, Voice, Phones or  Hosted Unified Communications is particularly suitable for small and medium sized businesses and those with many small offices ( or small numbers of telephony users in each office ).

A representative from Cisco Systems comments:

“We are seeing an increasing demand for managed and hosted solutions in the voice space and this is especially the case for smaller businesses with less than 20 employees. FutureLine have a refreshingly new approach by addressing the key fundamentals of quality, security and ease of use and deployment. This is all underpinned by partnering with Cisco who fully understand how to manage different media provided by the various consumption models.”

Andy Brocklehurst
RSM Cisco Small Business UK

For more information please contact Clare at Futureline

http://www.futureline.net.uk/contact.html

for the chance to win an ipad go to

http://info.futureline.net.uk/win-an-ipad/

A new Cisco based Hosted Telephony service is available, via selected Cisco partners, in Birmingham, U.K.
Cisco Hosted Telephony ( otherwise known as Hosted Voip, Voice or  Hosted Unified Communications is particularly suitable for small and medium sized businesses and those with many small offices ( or small numbers of telephony users in each office ).

A representative from Cisco Systems comments:

“We are seeing an increasing demand for managed and hosted solutions in the voice space and this is especially the case for smaller businesses with less than 20 employees. FutureLine have a refreshingly new approach by addressing the key fundamentals of quality, security and ease of use and deployment. This is all underpinned by partnering with Cisco who fully understand how to manage different media provided by the various consumption models.”

Andy Brocklehurst
RSM Cisco Small Business UK

For more information please contact Clare at Futureline

http://www.futureline.net.uk/contact.html

for the chance to win an ipad go to

http://info.futureline.net.uk/win-an-ipad/