Remembering why I am in business

The end of the year is always a time for reflection. I think it is worth remembering why I am in business at this time of year:

God has given each of us gifts to use to the best of our ability – by doing so I glorify His name.
God expects us to work and support ourselves and our families – this is part of His purpose for me.
We need to generate wealth to be able to contribute to the work of the church and charities – to support God’s work on earth.
To provide prosperity and jobs in our community – to share God’s blessings to me.
To conduct business in accordance with God’s will and Word – by doing so I act as a light in the business community and point my contemporaries to God.
To serve God, my colleagues, our customers and our community – we are all called to serve in some way. This is my calling.
To generate value for the shareholders that have invested in the company to allow me to do all of the above.

I hope you are able to have a good rest and may this Christmas be a blessing for you and your families as we remember and celebrate Jesus coming to earth and the purpose of His coming.

Merry Christmas
Wayne

Christmas - what is it all about

What are you doing to celebrate Christmas this year? Does it involve going to any kind of christian celebration or worship?
It seems every day the media has a new story about how schools, councils, etc are banning christian celebrations this year. Their aim is to not upset/offend people of other faiths. I could go on about how people of other faiths find it ridiculous that in a 'christian' country we ban our own festivals and celebrations. Could you imagine Ramadan being banned by a school in Pakistan to avoid upsetting children from christian families?? Yet as a christian I am not at all surprised. Is it a big deal? The Bible teaches that we should expect persecution. In fact, are believers really being denied their rights to celebrate this festival? We are extremely fortunate here in the UK. To find out what real persecution is visit http://www.barnabasfund.org/. Here you will read some harrowing stories and really understand what persecution is.
I believe it is just another symptom of the general atmosphere currently within the UK. It seems that many people walk on egg shells around most religions except Christianity. I have already said that we should expect this - but should we accept it?
I see it as an opportunity to stand up and tell people about my faith? My reaction should be as Christ's would be: to tell people the truth and point them to God's word and God himself in love (i.e. to do what is best for them regardless of the consequences for me). To remind people why we celebrate Christmas at all:
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Whilst unwrapping presents, eating too much turkey and spending time with loved ones, I urge you to consider one of these two things;
1. If you are not a believer - look beyond the Christmas glitz and consider the consequences of continuing to reject God and His gift of salvation to us.
2. if you are a believer - make some time to remember your brothers and sisters in Christ who suffer persecution around the world and thank God for the opportunities we have to proclaim His Gospel here in the UK.

To each and every one of you - enjoy Christmas. It is a time of celebration and thanksgiving.
Wayne

e-mail marketing

On the 15th December I was one of 20 business people providing a 40 minute workshop at the local businessXchange creative cooperation event.
businessXchange is the peer support network run by Business Link across Dorset, Hampshire and Isle of Wight.

My workshop was on the topic of e-mail newsletters.
I had planned too much and did not complete it all, but hopefully I managed to get across enough information to demomnstrate the value of this marketing tool to the listeners.

E-mail marketing, when done well, is one of the most effective marketing tools available. It should be a key component of any serious business marketing plan.
There are many considerations and, as with all marketing, it should be well planned, followed up and throughly reviewed and evaluated.

I had lots of notes and have combined them into one PDF that can be viewed/downloaded here.

If you have any questions about e-mail marketing, please post them here. I cannot gurantee answers, but I will do my best.

Happy e-mailing!

the play contd.

The play went without a hitch.
Jessie was a shepherd (although one of about 20!!)

I managed to make it despite work comittments. It was not an epic production, but the usual enthusiasm of children made it great fun to watch.

Photos not allowed - not sure other parents would appreciate me posting pictures of their kids on the Internet!!

gearing up now for the main event itself.

Web site accessibility

Is it really that surprising that the vast majority of commercial Web sites are not accessible for disabled users?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6210068.stm

For many businesses having a Web site is often seen as necessary evil and they want to spend as little as possible on it. Many even do their own Web sites. By going down this route they are choosing to not use industry standards and comply with accessibility guidleines wether they know it or not.

At Saratoga Technologies (UK) part of our operation is designing commercial Web sites. We are constantly in competitive situations where the client is offered a lower price. The problem for clients is that, unless they have a focus on accessibility, the examples of sites we can show them and the examples others can show them can appear equally good and it often then comes down to a preference for design style as well as price. How can we expect a non-IT person to understand and explore the technical differences?
What we always try to reinforce is our commitment to using the latest, industry standard technology. We also commit to making the sites as accessible as possible.

There are many 'amateur' Web designers offering their services at a low price. They can provide a low price because their training was inexpensive, they make no commitment to ongoing training, they often use free tools that do not comply with the industry guidelines and particularly accessibility guidelines and are not interested in providing an angoing relationship with the customer to ensure they get the most from their site.
I know this probably sounds very snooty and superior, but would you use someone to do your business accounts that had only had a 2-day course entitled 'Using Excel for Home Accounts'? Commercial Web design needs to be viewed as a professional service. It takes providers with specialist skills, experience and an awareness of the legal requirements to get it right for businesses. We are workin with many clients that have a failing Web site currently because they made the mistake the first time around of using an amateur - now they want to invest in a professional service that will deliver real, measurable results.

The other side of the coin is the vast business benefits available through using industry standard technology and having a focus on accessibility. By doing this you not only open a new potential market for your products/services (i.e. disabled users) you also make it far easier for the Search Engines to index the content. I have lost count of the number of business people i have spoken to that complain about a lack of search engine traffic only for me to discover that their site has been completely created using Flash!!! No business should rely on organic search engine traffic to support their business, but the holy grail seems to be to appear on page 1 of Google when people search for your product/service. You have a better chance of doing this if you use a professional design service and adhere to accessibility guidelines.

If you are considering a new/upgraded Web site for your business make sure you include accessibility and industry standards within your selection criteria. You may not get the cheapest solution, but you are more likely to get a Web site that will actually be of benefit to your business. It also means you are not as likely to face legal action for being in breach of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA).

I can run tests on exisitng sites to check accessibility if you are concerned.
Would you like a report or some general advice? Drop me a line.

Wayne

School Christmas Play

My daughter Jessie wants to have her work published on the Internet!!! She is nearly 7 and attends Moordown St Johns School. Here is her article about the forthcoming school play.

I am learning some songs for the christmas play. Some people are acting or reading and the rest are singing. I am one of the singers. I am singing; '2000 years ago', 'there are shepherds living out on the field', a lullaby and another song.
I am a bit nervous about it because it will be in front of all the mums and dads.
Jessie

MBC Mens Group Ten Pin Bowling

In recent months, Moordown Baptist Church has seen the introduction of a men's group.
The reason being that non-Christian men think those of us that go to church are a bit odd and the thought of going to church does not particularly inspire them. So, we are moving out of our 'comfort zone' and organising simple social events for men from the church and their non-Christian friends. Hopefully this will give us an opportunity to build on existing friendships and maybe make new ones - we might even convince some people that we're not that odd.

We have now had 2 events - 23rd November and 4th December. Both took place at Tower Park, Poole. We started with 10-pin bowling and then went to eat at Nando's and TGI Friday's, respectively. Both went really well. There was a great atmosphere and a wide range of bowling abilities on show. The meal after gave us all a chance to build friendships, as planned - once we had compared our scores :-)

There is a fantastic calendar of events lined up for 2007: go-karting, sea fishing, a curry night, New Forest walk and BBQ and more. If you live in the Bournemouth area (Christian or non-Christian)and think you might like to join us for some 'male-bonding' please visit the church web site for more details www.moordownbaptist.org.uk.
I am certainly going to be at as many events as possible - it would be great to see you there.

Bye for now!

the grand opening of wayneharris.blogspot.com

Hello

welcome to my blog. hopefully over the coming weeks i'll make time to put some interesting stuff here.

excuses for the photo - a professional one for an online networking group!!

Bye for now