The London Consortium | Design + Lifestyle

Professional Designer

Why Should I Use A Professional Designer To Build My WordPress Website?

September 23, 2019 London Consortium

Building a WordPress website can be hard, especially if you don’t have a lot of web development experience. Sure, you might be able to choose an attractive theme and change things like colours and fonts, but will you be able to really customize your site like you want to?

Ultimately, no you won’t. However, a professional WordPress developer or designer will be able to, helping you build a website that stands out from your competitor’s.

Below I’ve run through a few of the reasons why I always use an experienced designer when I’m building new websites. They include:

A Professional Designer Will Be Able To Build The Site You Want

Personally, I get frustrated easily. And there’s nothing quite as frustrating as trying to build a new WordPress website and not being able to get it quite right.

Sure, you might know what you want and be able to visualize it in your head, but actually turning your visualizations into a working product isn’t easy.

Fortunately, an experienced web designer will be able to work alongside you to create a beautiful website that meets your needs. When I’ve worked with designers in the past I’ve sat down with them, discussed the exact information and design I want, and left them to it.

A Professionally Designed Website Will Be SEO Friendly

According to www.seosydneypro.com.au Search engine optimisation, or SEO, is a crucial consideration when you’re building a new WordPress website. However, it isn’t always easy – especially if you’re site isn’t built well.

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Perfect Pool Fence

Designing The Perfect Pool Fence For Your Home

April 4, 2019 London Consortium

Designing the perfect pool fencing to complement your existing landscape design can be difficult, even for the best of designers. If you’re trying to save a bit of money by designing your fence on your own, you need to think about a wide range of things to make sure that you end up with a finished product that you and your family can enjoy for years to come.

There are a lot of different pool fence styles on the market, but glass pool fencing is becoming increasingly popular. Glass fencing is incredibly versatile and adaptable, and it can be customised to work with pretty much any landscape design. It can be more expensive than other pool fence styles, but it’s also usually more durable and easier to maintain.

Below you will find a few tips and tricks to help you design the perfect pool fence to compliment both your existing landscape design and your home.

Make Sure You Match Your Colours

The first thing that you need to think about when choosing the perfect pool fence to match your existing home and landscape design is the colour scheme that you’re going to follow. Make sure that you match the colours of your new fence to the colours of the existing elements in your backyard.

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Dental Veneers

Designer Teeth With Veneers

March 12, 2019 London Consortium

How to Know You Might Need Veneers

Veneers are a thin porcelain shell that a dentist adheres to your natural teeth to offer them a new, revitalised look. There are several reasons why someone may choose to get veneers, or why they are a better option than other dental cosmetic procedures. If you are seriously considering them as an option, then keep reading to find out how they might be able to help.

Your Teeth are Chipped or Cracked

Dentist Clear Choice Dental advise that after taking a hit to the tooth, you can also take a blow to the confidence. There can be very few things as shattering to your self-esteem as having a chipped, cracked, or broken tooth that everyone can see. Depending on how serious it is, your dentist may recommend dental veneers. They can match them to your other teeth, and you can say goodbye to those chips and cracks for good.

You Have Stained Teeth

In-chair cosmetic teeth whitening, and even some over-the-counter teeth whitening products are marvellous inventions. However, they are not suitable for all stains. If you have tried almost everything to get your set of pearly whites back from days gone by, then veneers can be another option to consider. (more…)

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Jewellery Designs

Jewellery Designs that Stand Out From the Crowd

February 17, 2019 London Consortium

Whether you love making jewellery, or you love buying it from a jewellery store, you will no doubt have an eye for what looks hot or not. Jewellery all has one thing in common – it’s beautiful, but that doesn’t mean it all stands out from the crowd. If you want to build or buy a piece that’s “you” through and through, then here’s how to do it.

Use Color

Most people think you can buy jewellery in gold and silver and that’s about all, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. There is a multitude of metal types from which to choose, but you can also change it up with what sits on that metal as well.

On necklaces, rings, and earrings, you can add bold plastic pieces and colors that enhance the metal. Take yellow, for example. You can customize silver jewellery with yellow accents then tie it in beautifully with vibrant clothing. You and your outfit will look a million bucks.

Layer it Up

Some jewellery designs are all about creating a look with more than one piece. Let the jewellery tell its story on its own, but write the whole book with a collection. Stacking jewellery up is a fashion trend that has been in and out since time began.

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Dental Implants

Design Your Smile With Implants

November 4, 2018 London Consortium

Top Tips for Taking Care of Dental Implants

A dental implant is a prosthetic root a dentist installs into your gum to take the place of a natural root that’s no longer there. The goal of the implant is so you can have an artificial tooth installed onto the root that becomes a permanent addition to your mouth.

Dental Implant experts, Dentist Perth tell us that many people prefer dental implants over bridges and dentures because of how they operate so naturally as regular teeth. Unlike bridges, they also don’t require you to have a tooth on either side to be able to fill the gap.

Once you receive a dental implant, however, you need to take care of it properly. Otherwise, you run the risk of all sorts of problems like infection. Here are a few helpful tips that your dentist may recommend as well.

Don’t Touch the Area

Immediately after getting the dental implant, it can be hard to resist checking out the area with your tongue. However, it’s essential that you don’t. After a dental procedure, your mouth is sensitive, and the gum can end up swelling or bleeding. You can speed up the healing process by leaving the new implant alone. (more…)

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Landscape Designer

The Definition of a Landscape Designer

June 6, 2018 London Consortium

The Things We Do

The creative art of making the exterior of a property beautiful and conserving it for aesthetic purposes is called landscape design. According to leading landscape design team Space Designs, elements such as plants, trees, shrubs, sustainability, topography and the structure of the soil all make up the components with which a contemporary landscape designer works with. To say that maintaining landscapes for personal and professional reasons is not a simple task is an understatement. Also, it is clear that good landscaping increases the value of a property. People involved in the landscaping business know that it can be, is, a back breaking and difficult profession. As a landscape designer, you need to possess a lot of information. A fully qualified landscape design expert knows how to deal with the complex planning involved in landscape projects. Planning and installing walkways, water features and establishing small residential gardens are all part and parcel of the work involved.

Landscaping Elements

Landscapes are made up of living and non-living elements. Construction materials such as bricks, cement, timber and pavers are easily selected and are elements with which most people are familiar. But where to get the best deal and where to buy them is not knowledge that everyone possesses. A landscape designer can come in handy in these cases. Home and business owners are happy to pay landscapers to do all the material ordering as well as planning the construction rather than messing up the whole project trying to do it themselves.

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Link-Building-in-SEO

The Role of Link Building in SEO

December 6, 2017 London Consortium

Much is said about the role of SEO in getting a website into the first page of the search engines result, giving it a far better chance of being chosen by the person who typed in a specific keyword or phrase. But most people think of search engine optimisation as using suitable keywords in the text of their website. However, adding keywords to the appropriate places is only a small part of the overall digital strategy that should be used to ensure the success of any website.

Link building also plays a significant part of SEO. Back when search engines were not that smart, people got away with using what is known as ‘black hat’ techniques to enhance the visibility of a website. One of those techniques was to do a bulk link to ‘link farms’. For a reasonable cost, these link farms would supply links to many websites that got good traffic – but they usually weren’t the kind of websites you’d want to be linked to.

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Fencing Company

8 Reasons for People to Choose Your Fencing Company

November 27, 2017 London Consortium

Whenever people want to hire builders or maybe a fencing contractor like Eline Fencing, they research several companies, then ask for quotes. They may even want to speak to the contact person by phone or face to face to ask them specific questions. One way to ensure you get lots of fencing work is to make sure you give potential clients the right answers to their questions, either on your website, brochures or when speaking to them.

To do that you have to know what they are going to ask you. Here are 8 likely questions they’ll ask. If the answers are right, they will become 8 reasons why those people will choose your company to do their work.

Do you offer a warranty? You need to, both on construction of the fence and on the materials. The warranty should be for a reasonable amount of time to give your potential clients peace of mind.

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Vivarium

Tired of the Aquarium? How about a Vivarium for Your Home?

April 12, 2017 London Consortium

Many people enjoy watching fish swimming around in their fish tank or aquarium, especially one that is set up for tropical fish, which are so pretty. However, it may be difficult to maintain especially if you go away a lot, or if blackouts are common in your area. A Vivarium offers something that is quite different from the aquarium and can become a great talking point for guests as well as a great way to add an unusual decorative feature to your home.

What is a Vivarium? It is an enclosed, glass container set up to contain reptiles such as lizards. It must be capable of maintaining the right temperature, just like an aquarium for tropical fish, but it contains no water – unless you have frogs and other amphibians instead of reptiles. World renowned Interior Designer and Super Yacht designer, Sam Sorgiovanni designed no less than two vivariums as well as an aquarium for the superyacht Nirvana, so you don’t have to do away with your aquarium just to get a Vivarium. Have both if you want to.

It is easy enough to purchase a Vivarium ready to go and this certainly saves working out things like the best gravel or soil, rocks or plants and so on, not to mention lights and temperature. These must all be suitable for the creatures you are going to keep in the Vivarium and usually it will need to be hotter than the temperature in your home. It may or may not need to have humidity as well, depending on the type of reptile you intend to keep.

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outdoor-space

Different Colours for Your Outside Furniture

March 25, 2017 London Consortium

Are you a colour person? Some colours make us happy while others are said to create a calming effect, energise us or even make us sad. So it’s important to consider colours if you are creating a quiet haven outside where you can de-stress. So how you can get colour into your outdoor furniture so that you compliment your exterior lounge area? The easiest way is through the use of furnishings under a nice shaded area either with a pergola or shade sails.

For instance, you’ll be sure to want cushions for the chairs; some alfresco furniture comes with it already in place, in which case you won’t have much choice but to go with that. But you can easily purchase smaller cushions to that lovely wicker furniture, or even boat wood furniture which could well have some of the old boat paint still on it, depending on where it is from. Outdoor furnishings are often available from the furniture store, where they are displayed on the furniture so you can see how it looks together.

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air-con-vs-ceiling-fans

Home Design – Air Conditioning vs. Ceiling Fans

March 20, 2017 London Consortium

Many people think that if they have ceiling fans they shouldn’t need to have air-conditioning, but in fact this is wrong, especially if they live in a hot climate. Fans of all kinds simply move the air around. This may make you feel a bit cooler, especially if you are perspiring. But once the air becomes really hot, a fan is not going to cool you off unless you are actually wet.

We all know that hot air rises; that is why we have thunderstorms when a cool front moves in after hot weather. In the house, especially if the ceilings are high, this hot air congregates all around the top of the room. When you switch ceiling fans on, they actually push that hot air back down to the floor, so you are going to feel hotter than you were before you switched them on. Freestanding fans don’t do this.

If you have both ceiling fans and an air conditioner (and get it serviced regularly) with a high ceiling, you’ll notice it all the more because the cool air from the air con will sink to the bottom half of the room. But if you then switch on the ceiling fans, once again, you’ll feel that hot air getting pushed down. Eventually, the two will merge and equalise, but it’s far better to leave ceiling fans off, especially in weather that is scorching hot.

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Holiday in Bali

Important Parts of a Holiday in Bali

March 1, 2017 London Consortium

There are many different components that make up a holiday; getting there, accommodation, day trips or other tourist destinations and food. If any of these don’t go according to plan it tends to spoil your holiday. When you book into Bali villas for your holiday, that is one thing that will go right because there are many advantages of doing so.

For a start, when you have a villa, you often have access to your own special driver who can take you to see all the sights you want for a reasonable cost. In addition, you get a lot more room to spread out in a villa – bedrooms, kitchen and living room – not to mention the swimming pool that is just a step away. All this makes travelling with friends that much more fun, since you can meet with one another and chat without worrying about waking up other people next to you.

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Outdoor-Lighting

Enhancing Your Home and Garden with Outdoor Lighting

February 9, 2017 London Consortium

When you have a beautiful home and garden, it’s a shame not to make the best of it with outdoor lighting. Even though a good electrician will be needed to install it all properly, it’s well worth the added cost when you can entertain out by the pool or gazebo without fumbling around in the dark, or bothering with lamps or candles, both of which can be dangerous if they are knocked over.

If you plan on having a dedicated alfresco dining or entertaining area, you’ll certainly need adequate lighting to have the best time. Even if you just have a gazebo in the back area, having it fit out with attractive lights will enable you to get much more use out of it. You can use it as a retreat from noisy teens, or send them out there to practice their musical instruments or just have fun, leaving you in peace for an hour or two.

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8 Design Tips for Building a New Home

December 17, 2016 London Consortium

Building a new home is an exciting and sometimes stressful time. Stress can be reduced by knowing what you want ahead of time and making sure those building plans reflect your choices. Don’t rush the process but enjoy it to ensure you get a home that will suit your budget and lifestyle.

Here are 8 tips to consider when building a new home.

Consider an open floor plan. It is easier to heat or cool and it allows the family to come together more easily. And supervision of children is easier while you are working in the kitchen. It also helps your home to look and feel more spacious.

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Dental Implant

Do You Need a Dental Implant?

November 17, 2016 London Consortium

Dental implants experts, Joondalup City Dental have been used with great success for many years in treating certain dental problems. While they are not suitable for every case of a lost tooth, they can provide a way for tooth replacement without the need for dentures. While dentures are better than nothing, many people find them uncomfortable, especially those on the bottom gums.

What exactly are dental implants, and what do you need to know before your dental implant procedure?

They consist of three different components: –

A dental implant into the bone of the gum
A connector or abutment that must be inserted onto the first implant
The artificial tooth or crown that is then connected to the abutment

It can take 3-6 months for all this to happen, because the implant must be left to heal completely and the bone needs to grow around it to make it secure. Then more healing is needed after the abutment is inserted. The last stage or connection of the crown is the simplest part of the whole operation.

Some people heal more quickly than others. This is usually those who are younger or in the best health. Older people or those in poor health will take longer for the procedure to heal completely. However, once it is done, the tooth will look just like a natural one and no special care is needed to look after it, apart from the usual cleaning teeth regime.

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Basic Essentials of Effective Logo Design

October 5, 2016 London Consortium

When it comes to logo design, it is essential to have certain basic elements in place in order for it to do its job make people think about and remember the company it represents – and hopefully, become customers. An effective logo will capture the attention of potential customers, but even those who don’t necessarily fall into that group will be aware of the logo and what company it represents.

Here are the 5 basic essentials of effective logo design.

Take a look at all the company logos that you know, from Nike to Apple and more. You’ll see they are astounding in their simplicity. This makes them easy to recognise no matter where you see them.

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Web-Design-Tips

Web Design Tips To Help Your Website Get Found

August 14, 2016 London Consortium

The most important goal for any business website is to engage and convert visitors to customers, but this cannot be accomplished unless visitors can actually find your website amongst the millions that are out there. Web design has an important part to play in getting found, so here are some tips to help ensure your website can be found by potential customers.

In the early days of Internet action things were somewhat simpler. These days there are many different factors to take into account if you want your web business to be successful. One of them is responsive design. This simply means ensuring your website shows up well on mobile phones and other devices with small screens. This is called responsive web design and is important since around 84% of people now access the Internet with their mobile phones.

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Landscape-Design-Include

What does Landscape Design Include?

June 17, 2016 London Consortium

If you thought landscape design was doing something nice with the garden, you’d be right – and somewhat wrong. Landscaping includes the garden, but it also encompasses a great deal more than just living plants. Anything that can be found outside the home can be included in professional garden design.

For instance, having a pool put in may or may not be done by professional landscapers, but you will certainly need their expertise to make the area around the pool look its best. You could have a low maintenance garden installed in the vicinity of the pool, or anything else that suited the needs of the area.

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Bali-Holiday-Accommodation

Tips on Finding the Best Bali Holiday Accommodation

April 21, 2016 London Consortium

When going on holiday to Bali, many people like to book into a luxurious hotel for their accommodation. While this can certainly be an enjoyable option, before making a final decision it is crucial to consider what you are going to be doing and the ages of those who are going with you. For instance, little children will have different needs from teenagers or other adults, so for the holiday to be successful you need to consider their needs as well as your own.

Bali is a popular overseas holiday destination that has many accommodation options including hotels, but sometimes, according to Easy Villas, villas available in Bali will suit you a lot more, especially if you like to have more room to move around in. A villa is a whole house with from one to seven bedrooms, making it ideal for groups or families. The idea of having a whole house to move around in is much more attractive than being confined to just one room.

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Hot-Branding-Trends

The Latest Hot Branding Trends

January 17, 2016 London Consortium

Many businesses turn to the Internet for branding their company. There is a great deal they can do to establish the brand and reputation of their business in cyber space and as with many other places trends come and go while other evolve into something new. Here are some of the latest hot branding trends you could implement for your business.

These days, branding is all about the customer and businesses strive to connect with them on a much deeper level than previously. This includes making sure they provide a better customer experience in not one, but all of the touch-points there are between a customer and the business they interact with. The thing to remember is that branding is a long term strategy that will bring organic growth rather than a short term quick fix solution to getting more customers.

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Best-Diet

What is the Best Diet?

December 21, 2015 London Consortium

There are many diets in the world today; some work well for some people while others fail miserably at what they are meant to accomplish. Some diets are simply fad diets that quickly lose popularity, while others have stood the test of time and become classic favourites for those looking to lose some weight. Yet dieting remains very difficult for many people.

You might consider the best diet to be one that causes you to lose weight quickly, but this is not strictly true if you are thinking about the nutrition your body needs to remain healthy. Some diets work because they don’t provide enough food for anything, let alone health. Of course the weight falls off, but your body is starved of the nutrients it needs to function.

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Cosmetic Dentistry

How Cosmetic Dentistry Can Help You

November 17, 2015 London Consortium

Cosmetic dentists such as Dentist Joondalup are all about improving the looks of your teeth, gums and bite. It does not include treating decay, even though the treatment for decay will certainly improve the look of your teeth, not to mention improve your health. It includes treatment such as –

Teeth whitening
Reshaping the teeth, such as straightening them and fitting a brace
Bonding – where a resin is glued to the tooth to improve its appearance
Dental bridges and crowns that help fill in gaps
Veneers – then shells fitted over the top of your normal teeth
Dental implants – replacing teeth that have to be extracted.
Gum lifts – raises and sculpts the gum line make teeth appear longer
Bite reclamation – excessive wear due to bruxism or acid reflux can wear the tooth down
Inlays and onlays that improve your smile

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Reduce-Your-Bounce-rate

7 Tips to Reduce Your Bounce Rate with Web Design

June 22, 2015 London Consortium

When visitors come to a website there is a 3-5 second window you have to let them know what you offer. If they don’t find what they want in that time they will leave. The rate or percentage of visitors that leave is called the bounce rate. Web design can be improved to reduce the bounce rate, increasing the likelihood of visitors becoming customers.

When there is a high bounce rate it means you are losing potential customers. While many factors can be involved, a common one is the design of your website, so here are some tips on how to improve it.

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Eating-Disorders

Why Eating Disorders Need to be Treated

February 21, 2015 London Consortium

When a person first gets an eating disorder they may not even know what it is. Even then it is likely that they will try to hide what they are doing, whether it is pigging out and purging, excessive exercising or one of the other symptoms of the disorder. Sometimes they try to stop this kind of behaviour without help – and may even succeed if the disorder has not been going on for too long. But mostly, their success is only temporary.

This is the time when they have to best chance of recovery, but often they don’t get it because no one knows what’s going on. Eating disorders are a health problem that can easily be hidden. The problem is that often people don’t realise that they have an eating disorder as such, or don’t think it is as serious as we know today that it is. With a young person, peer pressure is applied so their friends don’t want to ‘dob’ them in. They just hope the problem will go away – but it does not.

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Reconstructing Your Business

9 Things to Consider Before Reconstructing Your Business

January 27, 2015 London Consortium

Changing the structure of a business is not uncommon, especially when things change and the present structure is no longer useful or satisfactory. For instance, if you started out as a sole trader and your business expanded so rapidly you decided to take on a partner to help with the work, or even to just provide more finance. You would then need to restructure the business to be a partnership.

But there are many other reasons why you may be considering restructuring and there are things to consider before going ahead.

It’s important to seek legal advice from suitable commercial lawyers and then be clear with your instructions about why you need to restructure so you can be sure that this is the best way forward and it will meet your future needs better than the present structure.
Know your options and the implications of each one. There are tax and other implications with each type of business structure, so these must be taken into careful consideration to ensure the new structure is right for your goals.

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Add-Pizzazz-to-your-home

Add Pizzazz to Your Home With the Latest House Design Trends

December 17, 2014 London Consortium

Fads come and go but some of the latest house design trends look so great and have many benefits that they are sure to become classics, meaning they will stay around for many years to come. If you are building a new home it’s good to implement some of these trends to add pizzazz to that special space you call home.

Here are just some of the latest trends that are set to become classics. Pick out the ones you like best and leave the others.

According to the kitchen gurus at Colray Cabinets, two tone kitchen cabinets are trendy. Make those high on the walls a light colour, while the lower cabinets can be a darker or richer colour. Very effective when you choose wood grain finishes, but other finishes can also look good done in this way.

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Draw-Up-a-Will

How to Draw Up a Will

September 17, 2014 London Consortium

Everyone should have a Will. If they don’t they can’t be sure that their assets will be distributed according to their wishes. It will also cost a lot for the court to decide how to distribute the assets and this means even less for the family once the decision is made. Family Lawyers Perth will tell you there are several ways to make a Will.

You can simply write down clearly who of your family and friends should get what on a piece of paper and have it signed by two witnesses. This is a legal Will, but it can get lost unless you put it in a safe place. It can also get stolen and may even be changed. If you do write a Will like this it can be stored for free in the Public Trustee’s WA Will Bank, or leave it in your safe or a safety deposit box. The key to the box should also be kept safe.
You can go to family lawyers and ask him or her to draw up a Will. To do so, they will need to know what property and other assets you own. You will also need to make provision for a way to pay off any debts you have at the time of your death. This is usually done by selling some property or asset and using the money to pay the debt. What is left over can then be distributed as you see fit. This too, will need to be signed by witnesses.

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Planning Business

What to Look for in a Financial Planner for Your Business

August 18, 2014 London Consortium

When it comes to planning your business it is advisable to seek advice from people like a financial planner. They can help you to do many of things needed to set up and run a business, to expand and grow it and to wind it up when you are ready to retire. The right kind of financial planning will ensure that your cash flow is healthy so you can pay your bills on time and make sure the business is making a profit.

However, when you are looking for a financial advisor you have to take care that they are working independently. Some such people get paid for selling certain products such as insurance or other products and this makes their advice suspect because it is a conflict of interest. They are likely to advise you that a certain product – that they get paid for – is the best option for you when it is really not.

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Travelling-Abroad

10 Tips for Choosing an Overseas Holiday

June 12, 2014 London Consortium

Many people travel overseas on holidays each year, while others may only go once or twice in a lifetime. No matter how often or seldom you go, the whole idea is usually to relax, have fun and see something a bit different from your own country. Often, booking a holiday package ahead of time gets you a good deal, but you have to be careful of where you choose to go because some countries are dangerous for various reasons.

Here are 10 tips to choosing an overseas destination for a holiday.

Go online and listen to the news to find out if the country you want to go to is safe. What was safe last year is not necessarily the same this year – and vice versa. Should there be a coup of some kind, it is best to stay away until things settle down.

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New-Architectural-Housing

New Architectural Designs in Housing

April 22, 2014 London Consortium

Most people want to include the newest trends in architecture in their house design when they are starting off with building a new home, but the truth is, many such features can be added to a home when renovating, so you don’t have to miss out. For instance, taking the indoors out by having an outside room for alfresco dining and entertaining doesn’t have to be limited to new homes. It can easily become your latest renovation idea for the home you have.

And being able to step off the outdoors room straight into your pool may seem like a luxury, but is in fact, quite easy to achieve and affordable – so long as you haven’t already built a pool further down the backyard.

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Choose-Wine

4 Steps to Help You Choose Wine

April 11, 2014 London Consortium

Many people enjoy wine with their meals, but if you are a newbie to the world of wine – or to entertaining – you may feel overwhelmed with all the choices available out there. Don’t be like those who choose their wine by whether the label is pretty or not, reading and understanding what is on the label is a far better way to choosing the right wine for that special occasion.

Of course, it may be that no matter how many labels you read, you are still feeling pretty clueless as to the right wine for your dinner party. In that case, here are 4 simple steps to help you buy wine online or in stores.

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Yoga

8 Reasons to Take Up Yoga

February 4, 2014 London Consortium

If you are looking for a way to get you whole body fit, why not try yoga? There are many benefits to be had including the fact that it helps to reduce stress. Yoga is not all about sitting with your legs crossed while meditating; it also includes many different kinds of exercises that are designed to give you core strength and fitness without neglecting other parts of the body.

Here are 8 reasons to take up yoga.

Yoga is efficient, working out your arms, legs and core. You might think lifting weights is also needed, but your body weight is supported by your arms in at least one pose and this will certainly make your arms strong. Doing yoga raises your heartbeat as well as strengthens and lengthens your muscles.

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How-Email-Marketing-Works

How Email Marketing Works

January 17, 2014 London Consortium

If you are considering putting up an eCommerce website, you may be wondering just how it all works. One thing that is essential is some kind of online marketing. There are many online web stores so unless you have a sound digital marketing plan in place not much targeted traffic will end up on your website. One of the easiest way to market is by email, however you do have to have an email list before you can do this.

Here’s how it works. When visitors land on your website you can offer them a free gift in return for their email address. This can be a digital gift so you don’t have the cost of freight. Valuable information or a short email course with tips in it to do with whatever you are selling often works. Or you could offer a newsletter that lets them know of new stock or discounts ahead of anyone else.

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Best-Web-Design

10 Tips to Getting the Best Web Design

December 7, 2013 London Consortium

A business website is not like a personal one, so you need to have it done professionally in order to actually look professional, work well and achieve your goals, whatever they happen to be. Clear communication between the website owner and the designer is essential to ensure the web design can achieve your goals. If you don’t know what they are, it’s time to think hard about it, because it’s vital to tell the designer what you want before he starts on it.

Here are 10 questions you need to answer in order to get the kind of website you want.

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Overseas-Holidays

How to Save on the Cost of Overseas Holidays

October 26, 2013 London Consortium

We all love the idea of overseas travel, but it can be costly, which is why we have that special bank account to save up enough for a great holiday. Many people choose Bali, because it is the closest place with a hot climate and great beaches and so it costs less for the airfare. Accommodation is also affordable, especially if you go as a group and book some luxury accommodation with a villa company such as www.luxury-villas-bali.net

An overseas holiday can cost a lot, but significant savings can be found when you follow some of the tips below.

Much of the cost of an overseas holiday is in the air fares, so getting deals here can save you a lot. Travel mid-week rather than Friday, Saturday or Sunday as air fares are reduced during the week.

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addiction

What is an Addiction?

October 21, 2013 London Consortium

Addiction is much more than dependence on a substance that needs a drug rehab to cure, though it encompasses that as well. It can also be a behaviour that is addictive. For instance, gambling can become an addiction – something that is pleasurable to you, but you can’t stop doing – as can shopping or sex.

According to leading drug rehab facility Sivana Bali, when you are addicted to something it interferes with your normal life. You want to do it and continue to do it to the extent that other responsibilities that are part of your life are neglected. For instance, shopping and gambling addictions are carried on even if you don’t have enough money. The addict will find ways to getting the money, such as doing without other things and making their family go without. Or they may sell off things that are important or even turn to crime in order to get the money to support their habit.

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Custody-Arrangements

Custody Arrangements for the Children During Divorce Proceedings

August 11, 2013 London Consortium

If you are going to apply for a divorce, it is essential to make arrangements for the care and safety of your children. Professional divorce law lawyers will advise you on the best way to go about it, because each case is different depending on certain factors. While there must be a separation of 12 months before you can apply for a divorce, often this can be one where both spouses continue to live in the same home and it is not until the divorce is final that one partner moves out.

This is when the children will feel the divorce most keenly as they will then be deprived of one of their parents to a great extent. It is essential that safe care arrangements are made and this will depend on who applies for custody and whether that custody will be a 50/50 arrangement for their ongoing care or whether one spouse will have most or all of the decision making.

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Upgrade-the-Bathroom

How Not to Upgrade the Bathroom

May 12, 2013 London Consortium

Many people think that the best way to sell their home quickly or add value is to upgrade the bathroom. They may take out the shower screen and leave that space empty to make the room look bigger, but all it does is create more work wiping down the splashes. The better idea is to install frameless glass showerscreens.

That way you get the look of more space without the mess. When you think about it, the shower is mostly next to the bath or the toilet. So if you shower without walls – a trend that was once popular – you will have to wipe dirty water off the toilet or out of the bath even though you didn’t use it.

If your shower is not close to either, look at where the splashes will go; very likely right out onto the floor where everyone has to walk, you included. So you’ll have to mop the floor – and that’s all the more work.

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House-Design

10 Tips for Budget and Convenience in House Design

April 8, 2013 London Consortium

There are many factors to consider with your house design, but the two most common and important are staying on budget while getting a floor plan and design that makes your house convenient and easy to live in. You don’t have to be proficient in architecture to have a live-able home area; that’s why architects are there. Most builders floor plans have been designed by an architect to start with.

Here are 10 tips to ensure the design of your home suits your lifestyle.

Research different styles of home and decide on what you like about them. Try and include your likes and avoid things you don’t like when designing the elements for your home. This is about the outside of the home.

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Good-Corporate-Property-Lease

Do You have a Good Corporate Property Lease?

January 15, 2013 London Consortium

When you run a business you’ll most likely have a lease for the property. Most leases are drawn up to favour the landlord so it is important to fully understand all the implications of the many clauses before you sign a corporate lease. Experienced property lawyers are the best ones to give you advice on leases and it is totally worth the cost of hiring one to examine your potential lease and ensure it is a good fit for you and your business.

Most leases contain many clauses about a varied number of topics. Many of the clauses are negotiable if the landlord is willing, but not all are. If your potential landlord is not willing to negotiate on any point, it might be best to look elsewhere for your business premises, because some of those clauses are very likely to cost your business money – maybe even enough money to send you broke.

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Best-Kitchen-Design

How to Get the Best Kitchen Design

November 12, 2012 London Consortium

If you listen to companies like Kitchen Professionals are looking to renovate your kitchen, it is a good idea to consult a professional kitchen designer. Why? Professional designers have a great deal of experience in what will work and what won’t for your available kitchen space and lifestyle. They will be able to come up with a kitchen design that is amazing and tailored so that it is unique to you.

So what is the best way to find a good kitchen designer? Here are some criteria you can go by.

Look for a company who has been in business for a long time. Businesses come and go; if you find one that has lasted the distance you can be sure it is because they have lots of customers who are pleased with their work.
A company with a website that showcases a number of kitchens that they have designed for other customers will allow you to see what they are capable of. You might also use those pictures as a starting off point for the design of your own kitchen.

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Decorate-Garden-Pots

Tips to Decorate Garden Pots

October 9, 2012 London Consortium

Garden pots don’t have to be plain or boring. There are many ways that they can be decorated to make them unusual, unique and attractive. Besides, decorating pots can be a lot of fun and makes them into your own creations. You don’t even have to be especially crafty to make your pots shine. Here are some tips to get your creative juices flowing.

Take any kind of pot and wrap it in rope. The rope should not be too thick and it’s best if it is not synthetic. Start at the bottom and wind the rope carefully around the pot, gluing it with a hot glue gun as you go. At the top, tuck the last bit under the row before and glue it down. Now take a thinner rope and glue it to the middle of one side in a flower shape – or any shape you want.

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Dont-Let-Your-Web-Design-Sc

Don’t Let Your Web Design Scare Visitors Away

June 4, 2012 London Consortium

If you’ve done much surfing you will have come across web designs that are so horrible you immediately hit the Back button. When designing your own website, you need to make sure it doesn’t contain any of those elements you dislike, because others are sure to feel the same way you did. Rather than scare your visitors away from your website you want to virtually take them by the hand and lead them around to show them what you’ve got.

When briefing your Internet Business Consultants in order to avoid scaring your customers away you will need to think carefully about exactly what it was that made you shudder and click away from that horrible website. Many factors could contribute to that action.

There were too many clashing colours
There was an overload of flashing gifs or animation that distracted you
The text was pale and small or merged with a background image so it was hard to see
There were ads all along the side that claimed attention you didn’t want to give them.
The ads looked tacky and were not even about the topic on the website

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Avoid-Toxic-Beauty-Products

How to Avoid Toxic Beauty Products

February 21, 2012 London Consortium

Most women and many men these days use some kind of commercial beauty product whether it is simple moisturiser or a whole range of make-up. Whatever we put on our skin, hair and nails can contain toxic ingredients that add to the overload of substances that we come into contact with every day; substances that can be carcinogenic, cause rashes or a hormone imbalance, or do some other kind of damage. In fact many moisturisers also contain an ingredient that dries the skin.

How stupid is that? Not so stupid if you are the company who makes it. People keep on purchasing the product because it feels good – at first. They don’t realise it is actually making their skin dry as well, blaming the dryness on other factors such as the soap they use, or even going to the beach, or they may consider it to be a natural thing because they have ‘dry skin’.

You can avoid toxic beauty products by using natural products that are good for you in many ways. Here are some of them;

Coconut oil. This can be used externally for many things from strengthening the epidermal tissue just under the skin and fighting off bacterial and fungal infections of the skin, including atopic dermatitis. It is also good internally as it helps to prevent inflammation and has healthy fats that nourish the gut and increase immune system health. It is a wound and scar healer and can be used to prevent razor burn.

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Components-of-Branding

10 Components of Branding

October 25, 2011 London Consortium

Any experienced digital agency will tell you that there are many different components of branding and the logo is one of them, but without the other components, having a logo at all would be almost useless as far as getting people to become your customers goes. All these other components are what creates the customer experience of your business so that when they see the logo, they remember the other things. What are the other components?

Commercials
Celebrity endorsements
Store design
Product packaging
In-store graphics
Sponsorships
Print ads
Website design
Hang tags
The music used in videos

Not all of these will be used in smaller businesses, but larger ones like Nike include them all. Yet you’ll be sure to note that their logo is very simple – a black ‘swoosh’ mark that represents power and speed. It also looks somewhat like a tick – or check mark, depending which country you come from, or the outline of the toe and sole of their running shoes.

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Rental-Maintenance

Who to Choose for Rental Maintenance

January 17, 2011 London Consortium

Real estate agents will be fully aware of the need for both residential and commercial property maintenance. There is no way a unit or any kind of property can be re-let when it is in terrible shape. Very often the previous tenants have left it not only dirty, but in need of repairs as well. Having a maintenance company that also includes a handyman for the repairs will certainly save you time and effort in finding two or maybe even three different companies to help.

When you find a company that offers multiple services from general cleaning inside and high pressure external cleaning through to gardening, mowing and steam cleaning the carpet your stress levels go down because suddenly there is less for you to do. When that company also offers electrical repairs, broken window repair and will fix the leak in the roof, you know you are onto a winner.

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Bali-Holiday

Bali Holiday Tips for Newbies

December 9, 2010 London Consortium

Getting ready to go to an overseas location for a holiday is very exciting and sometimes a little nerve-racking if you’ve never been before. Learning what to do from others who have been there helps a great deal. If you’ve never been to Bali before you are sure to have a great time. Here are some tips to help the newbie know what to expect and get the best out of their holiday to Bali.

October through to April is the rainy season, but it’s not cold unless you happen to be up in the mountains. Going at this time can be cheaper and you may get lucky with less rain than expected – or you may not. Much depends on what you plan on doing.
Remember it will be very humid, so make sure your villa has air conditioning.

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Landscape-Design

Landscape Design to Really Enjoy Your Outdoor Area

November 25, 2010 London Consortium

If you’ve been really busy since you moved into your home you may not have even thought about what is outside the walls of your home. Many people are satisfied with a path to the clothesline and a tree or two in the yard. But some landscaping can really make your property pop, so spare a thought or two for the whole of your property.

You can’t really enjoy your outdoor area if there is next to nothing there to look at. Even if you have a few shrubs and flowers, they only flower once a year and you have all those other seasons where there is nothing but a few leaves and grass to look at. But professional landscape design can change all that.

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Top Logo Design Trends

March 17, 2010 London Consortium

As with everything else concerning life in general and the Internet specifically, trends come and go. Logo and web design trends have evolved and changed over the years, some of them becoming classic and others just staying long enough for us to enjoy, then cast aside. There are many factors that influence trends of all kinds, including the design of logos. Sometimes it is simply that a design works really well so it becomes a classic. It can also be that something new pops up and becomes popular for a while but then falls by the wayside for whatever reason.

However, here are some of the current top logo design trends that seem set to stay.

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Avoid-Fines

How to Avoid Fines in Business

February 10, 2010 London Consortium

When it comes to setting up and running a business, if you don’t know the legal requirements you have to comply with, you are likely to attract a fine. While there is help to be found online, understanding all the fine details is sometimes very difficult. It is far better to check your local lawyers list and then consult with commercial lawyers who can explain it all to you in layman’s language and who can help with many of the problems that may arise.

All businesses have a budget of some kind they need to stick to. The budget does not usually allow for paying fines that in some cases can run into many thousands of dollars. In addition, when you don’t do something that is a legal requirement, fixing it can be time consuming. This means your business will not get up and running to your timeline and your time and attention must go to fixing the legal problem instead of working on your business.

Instead of risking this kind of delay, keep your business lawyers on hand so they can do all the legal work to ensure your business complies with all the rules and regulations needed for that particular kind of business. These differ according to the kind of company you have set up, as well as which business sector you conduct business in and even how big your business is, which is why it is more difficult for the business person to work out which apply to their business.

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Horticulturist

Becoming a Horticulturist

January 23, 2010 London Consortium

What does Horticulture involve? It takes in areas such as fruit growing, vegetables, everyday plants in the garden, turf, both seeded and roll-on, and of course, flowers. The garden can be anywhere, such as a yard in a house or a larger, production garden. People sometimes learn horticulture to create their own beautiful garden or do it as a hobby. They may just want to make their home have a lot more street side appeal.

How to Become a Horticulturist?

You can study for a certificate in horticulture at most universities, colleges or technical institutions. If you’re looking at starting a business in horticulture, then you will have a lot more credibility with a formal qualification. Learning to be a horticulturist means picking up knowledge in:

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Pool-Design

Why Pool Design is Important

October 22, 2009 London Consortium

Often, when people decide to get a pool they choose by budget or size, but this does not always work for the best result. After doing some small research, you would find that concrete swimming pools last longer and you can get a unique design. Why is this important?

Not all properties have a big, level area just right for the pool. Some are not even rectangular and may have odd corners that not much use can be had from. When you choose a concrete pool you can also get a design that truly fits in with your home and block of land. For example, you could even have a triangular pool if that suits your layout of home and boundary.

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Divorce-Proceedings

Where to Find Out About Divorce Proceedings

July 7, 2009 London Consortium

If you are in a failed relationship and want to apply for divorce there are several ways in which to find help. According to experienced family lawyers Robertson Hayles first and foremost you may want to consult with family lawyers who are experienced in divorce and can tell you everything you need to do. In fact, they will do most of the work for you. You only need to instruct them to do it and add your signature to the forms.

It often helps to talk to a neutral third party such as experienced family lawyers or mediators when you have been under the kind of stress that a breakdown in relationship usually results in. Having someone explain what you need to do and offer their help can mean the difference in whether you cope with your divorce and come through it successfully, or whether you flounder in a sea of hopeless depression caused by not being able to make decisions or not know what decision would be best given a specific circumstance. Sometimes you just need someone who you can trust to be on your side to advise you.

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Rough-or-Smooth-Stone-Cladd

Home Design – Rough or Smooth Stone Cladding?

February 17, 2009 London Consortium

When we see stone out in its natural setting, bushland, it will usually look quite rough. Even when you view it as a garden wall it may look rough, but it does not have to. Smooth stone is much better for internal use because if you bump against it, you won’t scrape skin off. Stone cladding that is diamond cut is smooth.

You may have thought the term diamond cut was something to do with the shape of the block. In fact, the term refers to the diamond tipped tools that are used to cut the blocks into the required size and shape. Diamond is a very hard surface, so the saws used to cut through the stone are extremely sharp and can go at a high speed without becoming blunt. This is what gives the stone its smooth finish.

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