It’s very nearly Christmas and we’re almost at the end of a run of free IT events which Cosmic delivered in association with Devon County Councils at locations around the two counties. We’ve been offering free IT support to local business people including the best use of social media to promote your business, the many possibilities of selling online, how to get your business on the net for free and what else to do with your current website that won’t cost you anything but time – to name but a few! The sessions have allowed us to actually set things up for people. We’ve set up Google accounts for people, created blogs and got people started down the Facebook and Twitter road for their business, sending them away with a head full of ‘can-do’ ideas. Even companies who thought that they had all the IT they needed and who thought they had their website just right have been helped. With a little bit of expert advice people have been shown the benefits of using a blog to gather feedback to create an online newsletter or even an online recipe book! As well as that we’ve given tip such as how having a video on YouTube can, not only show your clients what you do but help to drive traffic to your site and to raise your companies profile, and how simply having a Facebook account isn’t going to help you unless you do something extra with it and give someone a reason to go there. Many, many free and simple, practical ideas that are going to help businesses along.
We’ve been out and about since October all over the two counties, visiting places such as Cullompton, Wheddon Cross, Rousdon, Exmouth, Barnstaple, Totnes, Newton Abbot and Ilfracombe, bringing IT support and guidance to the businesses of the region. We have one more free event left to go to which you are most welcome and that will be in Axminster in the new year on the 6th of January at the Axe Valley College, Chard Street, Axminster, EX13 5EA
Along with all the IT help and advice and all the great free IT tips we’ve been able to pass on, we’ve also been promoting ‘Work Hubs’. A work hub is a place where homeworkers can drop into for a nominal fee, a warm, friendly, net-enabled place, to get away from their normal four walls, to work, meet and network with other homeworkers and to generally get out of the house! Cosmic has been spearheading the plan of setting up workhubs around the region and showing people what a great idea they are! The response to the ‘Work Hub’ idea has been very positive. Homeworkers from around the region have enjoyed coming along and have been ‘tweeting’ about what a good idea they are and “when can we have one!”