John K Mitchell's Misc Blog

John Mitchell
Computer Health and Safety: How Small Businesses Can Protect Their Staff


TL;DR: Computers themselves are not usually the problem. The real risks come from spending long periods sitting badly, using poorly positioned equipment, staring at a screen without a break and repeating the same movements for hours. For small businesses, a few simple changes to desks, chairs, screens and working habits can make a big difference.


Why Computer Health and Safety Matters to Small Businesses


For many small businesses, computers have become as important as the telephone was a few decades ago. Whether you run an office, manage a shop, work in an accounts department or spend your day dealing with customers online, there is a good chance that you spend a large part of your working day looking at a screen.

That makes computer health and safety something worth taking seriously.

More at https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/?p=3190 https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/?p=3190

John Mitchell
Business Premises Security: How to Protect Your Small Business


TL;DR: Good business premises security is not just about stopping burglars. It can protect your stock, equipment, property, staff and your ability to keep trading. CCTV, alarms, access controls, security patrols and other measures can all help, but the right solution depends on your business, premises and location. You do not necessarily need an expensive security system. Start by understanding what you need to protect and where your biggest risks are.


Why Business Security Matters


Business premises security might not be the most exciting thing on your list of jobs, especially when you are busy trying to win customers, manage staff and keep the accounts under control. However, it is one of those things that can suddenly become very important when something goes wrong.

A break-in can cause far more damage than the value of whatever a criminal manages to steal.

More at https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/2026/09/business-premises-security-protect-your-small-business/ https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/2026/09/business-premises-security-protect-your-small-business/

John Mitchell
Back-Button Hijacking: Why Small Business Websites Need to Stop Doing It


TL;DR: Back-button hijacking is the irritating trick that stops a visitor from using their browser’s Back button normally. Instead of returning to the page they came from, they may see an advert, a different page or be sent around a loop. It has annoyed web users for years, but Google has now made its position much clearer. In April 2026, Google announced that back-button hijacking would become an explicit violation of its spam policies, with enforcement beginning on 15 June 2026. Websites using the practice can face manual spam actions or automated ranking demotions. For a small business, that means a tactic intended to gain an extra page view could end up costing valuable Google traffic.


What Is Back-Button Hijacking?


There is a very simple rule when you browse the web: if you click your browser's Back button, you expect to go back. It sounds obvious because it is.

More at https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/?p=3182 https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/?p=3182

John Mitchell
When Your Mojo Disappears: How to Get It Back in Your Small Business


Running a small business can be exciting, rewarding and full of freedom. It can also be exhausting.

I was talking to a friend over the weekend who is an author, the one that has writen The Sleeping Phoenix series and he was saying about getting stuck on the most recent book.  This led me to say about writing blog posts and got me thinking.

Some days, you wake up ready to crack on. You have ideas, energy and a clear sense of where you are going. Other days, opening your laptop feels like a huge effort. The jobs you normally enjoy seem dull, and even small decisions feel harder than they should.

If that sounds familiar, your business mojo may have disappeared.

The good news is that this happens to plenty of small business owners. Losing your motivation does not automatically mean you have chosen the wrong career, your business is failing or you need to throw everything away and start again.

More at https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/?p=3178 https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/?p=3178

John Mitchell
Why You Check Emails While Getting the Kids Breakfast – and How to Manage Time Better


Do you ever find yourself buttering toast with one hand while scrolling through your inbox with the other? You’re not alone. Most small business owners start their day this way (I know I used to) – half in family mode, half in work mode. But why do we do it? And more importantly, how can we stop this cycle that leaves us frazzled before 9am? Let’s dig into the chaos, find out what’s really going on, and look at simple, real-world ways to get your mornings (and your mind) back.


The Breakfast Email Habit – How Did We Get Here?


Think back twenty years. The only way you’d check your emails before breakfast would be if you physically went to your computer, fired up your dial-up modem, and waited for that screeching noise to stop. Now, your phone is right there next to the kettle, flashing away with notifications before you’ve even had your first sip of tea.

It’s easy to see how this habit formed.

More at https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/2025/10/why-you-check-emails-while-getting-the-kids-breakfast-and-how-to-manage-time-bette/ https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/2025/10/why-you-check-emails-while-getting-the-kids-breakfast-and-how-to-manage-time-bette/

John Mitchell
URL Structures for a Small Business Website: What Should Your URLs Look Like?


TL;DR: A good URL should be short, clear and easy to understand. For most small business websites, something like domain.co.uk/service is usually better than a long, complicated URL. But there are times when adding another level, such as domain.co.uk/services/service, can make sense. The important thing is to create a structure that works for both people and search engines. Think about your website as a set of related topics, not simply a collection of pages.

Your website's URLs (or page addresses) might seem like a tiny detail. After all, visitors are usually more interested in what is on the page than what appears in their browser's address bar. However, the structure of your URLs can affect how easy your website is to understand, maintain and navigate.

A clear URL can tell somebody what they are about to find before they even click it.

More at https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/?p=3175 https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/?p=3175

John Mitchell
What To Do If Your WordPress Website Is Hacked


TL;DR: I've recently taken on a client with a new website whose old WordPress site was hacked and had around 200,000 pages injected into it. Many of those pages appeared to link to eBay products. The new website is now in place, but the old hacked site still needs dealing with. This is very much an ongoing project that may take several months to sort out properly.

If your WordPress website has been hacked, don't panic and don't start deleting everything you can find. First, work out what has happened, protect the website and your other accounts, create backups, investigate how the hacker got in and then clean the website properly. You also need to deal with the damage left behind in Google and other search engines.

A hacked website isn't just an IT problem. For a small business, it can become a business, reputation and SEO problem too.

More at https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/?p=3170 https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/?p=3170