John K Mitchell's Misc Blog

The Importance of Testing Your Small Business Website
The Importance of Testing Your Website (and Why Most Small Businesses Skip It)


TL;DR – Quick Version for Busy People


Short version: If you don’t test your website properly, you’re probably losing customers without even realising it. Broken links, confusing wording, spelling mistakes, and pages that don’t work properly all quietly push people away.

Website testing isn’t just for tech teams or big companies. It’s something every small business should do regularly. It means checking your links, reading your content properly, making sure everything works, and confirming your website actually says what you meant it to say. Not what you accidentally typed at 11pm on a Tuesday.

In this post, we’ll go through the different types of website testing in a simple, practical way. We’ll look at checking internal and external links, proofreading for spelling and grammar, and something even more important: making sure your content actually makes sense to someone else. https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/?p=3125

LLMS.txt Files: Should Small Business Websites Be Using Them Yet?
TL;DR: An llms.txt file is a relatively new proposal designed to help large language models (LLMs) such as AI chatbots and AI search tools understand the most important content on a website. It acts a bit like a guidebook, pointing AI systems towards key pages and information. While there is growing interest in the idea, there is currently limited evidence showing major direct benefits for most small business websites. Some organisations and AI-focused websites have started using llms.txt files, and I am testing them myself, but so far I have not seen any hard results that can clearly be attributed to having one. As with many new web standards, it is worth understanding and monitoring, but it should not replace proven SEO, content, accessibility, or website improvement work.

As artificial intelligence becomes a bigger part of how people find information online, website owners are starting to look at ways of making their websites easier for AI systems to understand. https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/?p=3119

Facebook and YouTube Adverts: How Small Business Owners Can Spot the Scams Before They Waste Money
Quick Summary: Facebook and YouTube are packed with adverts promising secret business methods, easy profits, instant success and products that supposedly cost less than a couple of cups of coffee. While some advertisers are genuine, many use manipulative sales tactics that are designed to trigger emotions rather than provide useful information. Small business owners should learn to recognise common warning signs, research advertisers independently, check Google search results, read reviews from multiple sources and avoid making rushed decisions. Even when users report questionable adverts, platforms such as Facebook and YouTube sometimes decide that the advert does not break their rules, which can leave misleading adverts running for longer than many people would expect.

Every day, millions of people watch videos on YouTube and scroll through Facebook. Along the way they are shown a constant stream of adverts. Some are from well-known brands. https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/?p=3116

How to Make Your Website Dyslexic Friendly
TL;DR: A dyslexic-friendly website is easier for everyone to use. Simple fonts, clear layouts, good colour contrast, shorter paragraphs, helpful headings, and accessible content can make a huge difference. Improving readability not only helps visitors with dyslexia but can also increase engagement, trust, and conversions for your small business.

When people visit your website, they want information quickly and easily. If your content is difficult to read, confusing to navigate, or visually overwhelming, visitors may leave before they find what they need. For people with dyslexia, these challenges can be even greater.

Creating a dyslexic-friendly website is not about completely redesigning everything or spending thousands on specialist development. In most cases, it involves making sensible improvements that benefit all visitors. A website that is easier to read is often easier to use, easier to understand, and more likely to convert visitors into customers. https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/?p=3114

AI Search Visibility: How Small Businesses Can Stay Visible as Search Changes
AI Search Visibility: How Small Businesses Can Get Found When Customers Ask AI for Help


TL;DR: Traditional SEO is still important, but more people are now using AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity to find answers, products and services. Instead of showing a list of websites, these tools often provide direct recommendations. If your business isn't mentioned, you may be invisible to potential customers even if your website ranks well in Google. The good news is that you don't need a huge marketing budget to improve your visibility. By creating helpful content, answering real customer questions, building authority in your niche and making your expertise easy for AI systems to understand, you can increase the chances of your business being recommended when people ask AI for advice.

Search is changing faster than many small business owners realise. For years, getting found online meant focusing on Google rankings, keywords and backlinks. https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/?p=3104

Changes to Companies House Filings and Documents Are Coming in April 2028
Significant Changes to Companies House Filings and Documents Are Coming in April 2028 for Small Businesses


Small business owners who currently prepare and file their own accounts need to start thinking ahead. Although April 2028 may seem a long way off, the changes being introduced by Companies House will affect how annual accounts are prepared, submitted and stored. Businesses that currently rely on paper filing or use older filing methods will need to adapt to a new digital-first approach. Planning early can help avoid stress, disruption and unexpected costs later on.

The government is introducing new accounts filing requirements as part of its wider plan to improve the quality and reliability of information held by Companies House. These changes will affect how companies prepare, submit and report their annual accounts. https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/?p=3101

May 2026 Roundup: The Small Business Advice You Might Have Missed This Month
Missed some of our articles during May? Don't worry. We've gathered together the highlights from another busy month of small business advice, SEO insights, marketing tips and practical guidance to help you stay informed without having to read every single post.

It's the end of the month and time for another of our monthly roundup of posts to help our readers that don't have time to read each and every one of the posts.

May was an interesting month. We covered everything from SEO and AI search to business signage, domain names, remote working and choosing the right SEO consultant. As always, our focus remained on practical advice that small business owners can actually use rather than theory that sounds good but never gets put into practice.

Running a small business often means wearing several hats at once. https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/2026/05/may-2026-roundup-the-small-business-advice-you-might-have-missed-this-month/

How Do You Cope When You're Ill and Can't Work in Your Small Business?
How Do You Cope When You're Ill and Can't Work in Your Small Business?


Being ill is bad enough. Being ill when you run a small business can feel even worse. Whether you're a sole trader, employ one person, or run a small team, sickness can quickly affect customers, income and day-to-day operations. The way you deal with illness often depends on the size and structure of your business, but one thing is true for everyone: having a plan in place can make a difficult situation much easier to manage.


It's Something I've Had to Think About Too


As a small business owner, this is something that I've had to consider myself over the years. Most people who run their own business know that feeling of waking up ill and immediately wondering not how quickly they'll recover, but how the business is going to cope.

I was reminded about this recently when I saw a shop that I follow on Facebook announce that they would be closing for two weeks this month. https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/?p=3098