Personally Chosen

With so many sites around these days it’s hard to keep yours at the top of the search engines as everyone seems to be getting going on some kind of seo work.

However, all is not lost even if you’re up against some serious competition. Where smaller sites have the advantage is that they can create more personalisation than the larger sites can. That’s important as, no matter how much money is thrown at it, you just can’t tell in advance how people will reach your site. Thus, if you keep the content fresh and relevant to you then chances are that a small site can get noticed almost as much as one with a large budget.

What you’ll not get is a top ranking position for very popular keywords but you can get top positions for more unique key phrases.

Probably the worst aspect of relocating is actually doing the relocation itself ie getting yourself and your stuff from where it is now to where it needs to be.

There’s no really easy way out of this as the house removals company simply can’t do all the work for you and what the various companies offer is basically along a range from complete DIY through to them doing nearly all of it. Where you choose along that continuum is down to your wants and resources although do bear in mind that the complete DIY approach isn’t necessarily cheaper than some of the options that provide you with a lot of assistance.

At the extreme DIY end you can potentially move all the stuff yourself using only your own transport. That’s an option that’s really only viable for moves involving a fairly small amount of stuff and/or over fairly short distances. It is definitely the cheapest option and not too tiring if you can stage it over an appropriate period of time. In practical terms most people can’t do that though and they generally need to hire a van. These two aren’t mutually exclusive as you could move all but the larger items of furniture yourself, using the van just for those larger items.

Moving up you’re into getting people to do some or most of the move for you. That generally doesn’t get you out of packing (unless you want a serious bill, of course) but does ease the move considerable as you’re not lugging boxes out of your current house and into the new one.

If you’re going on holiday now is a good time to apply for an American Express card.

Why? Sure you’ve already got Mastercard and Visa, won’t they do?

Well, they probably will do and, yes, it’s true that outside the British Isles and North America, acceptance of their cards isn’t nearly as widespread as it is for MC/Visa. However, when you get your credit card stolen (and you will do sooner or later), it’s the only one that you can depend on getting replaced whilst you’re on holiday. With Mastercard and Visa you’re depending on a lot of connections working and, particularly if you’re going to one of the countries in the former Eastern Bloc, then that infrastructure just isn’t in place.

OK, so it’s handy when it’s stolen abroad, but what about in the UK? Well, acceptance is pretty much universal these days and you’ll pick up a nice cashback bonus at the end of each year. It might not always look as worthwhile as some of the points rebate schemes but how often have you actually used the points that you’ve accumulated. Besides, with points you’re stuck with whatever the card issuer has in their catalogue, whereas with cash you can get whatever you want.

Definitely worthwhile as a third card and I think you’ll be surprised at how often you use it.