John Oberlin-Harris – Page 2

The easy way to save £1,000s on your wedding

With Brides Magazine putting the average cost of a UK wedding at £30,111, it’s hardly surprising that the internet is awash with articles suggesting ways to save money when you tie the knot.

These cost cutting measures tend to focus on which bits of your big day you could do without – such as ditching the free bar, having fewer flowers or baking your own wedding cake.

But there is another way to save hundreds – or even thousands – of pounds on your wedding without cutting back on the things that will make your special day special.

How to get the best deal on your wedding day

While it’s true that hiring the best venue, photographer and entertainment for your wedding can be expensive, there are also some great deals out there that could save you a small fortune.

So the best way to save money on your wedding without cutting important corners is to shop around to find the best value suppliers – and that’s where Bark comes in.

We’ll do all the legwork for you to contact potentially thousands of pros on your behalf to get you quotes fast and free.

Save up to £800 on wedding photography

The best wedding photographers provide a comprehensive service, complete with a wedding album and second shooter to assist on the big day – and will often charge in excess of £1,200 for their wedding packages.

But there are plenty of more affordable photographers who will still do a great job of capturing your special day on film, and finding the right one for you is easy with Bark.

On average, our wedding photographers quote around £700 for wedding photography, with some offering their services for as little as £395!

Book a great DJ for half the usual price

Premium wedding DJs in London and the South East will often quote £450 or more for their services – and if you want to get the best money can buy, you might feel that’s very reasonable.

But there are also many great DJs out there who will play your wedding for a fraction of that price and still keep your guests dancing all night long.

For example, the average quote for wedding DJ services on Bark is £300 – with the cheapest DJs costing as little as £200 for the night.

Find wedding caterers to suit any budget

Gourmet wedding catering can easily set your back £35-£50 per head – so, even with a relatively short guest list, it’s easy to end up spending a ton on food and drink.

Luckily, there is a wide range of different wedding catering options out there to suit all budgets and tastes, from traditional three-course meals, to hog roasts and beyond.

Most Bark pros quote around the £12-£15 per head mark for wedding catering, with some budget caterers quoting as little as £6 per head.

Compare pros for your wedding and get quotes fast

With dozens of wedding categories at your fingertips – from wedding cakes to venue hire, wedding flowers and more – finding everything you need for your wedding is easy with Bark.

Simply let us know what you want and we’ll reach out to recommended service providers on your behalf to get you quotes fast and free.

Click the link below now to find great professionals for your wedding and start saving money with Bark today.

Our new-and-improved trades categories make it even easier to secure new business with Bark!

We launched 300 new-and-improved trades categories this week, to make it even easier to find great leads for your business with Bark.

As well as many services that are brand new to our platform, we’ve divided general categories (e.g. plumbing) into specific job types (e.g. bathroom repair, or leaking and burst pipes).

We believe this approach will make it even easier to find new customers with Bark – and today we’ll look at what these changes mean for your business.

Know exactly what customers are looking for

By making our general trades categories more specific, we hope to give you a much clearer idea of what each customer is looking for before you respond to their Barks.

Where previously someone might have placed a Bark for a builder, they can now specify exactly what type of work they need doing – whether that’s concrete levelling, block paving installation or anything else.

This will make it much easier for you to decide if a job request is something you want to help with before you respond to it.

Cheaper to pitch for smaller jobs

Splitting the requests placed on our site up in this way also helps us ensure the price of responding to a Bark reflects the value of the job the customer needs doing.

For example, we know a pipe repair job is worth less than a full bathroom remodel – so these new categories will help us make sure smaller jobs are cheaper to pitch for than big ones.

Easier to choose which leads you hear about

Last, but not least, these new categories will help us make sure we only alert you to the best leads for your business.

Imagine your company offers wallpapering services, but not shelf installation. In the past, these jobs would have both come under ‘handyman services‘ – but now you can use our new trades categories to specify that you’d like to hear about one and not the other.

Start hearing about customers completely FREE

Our registered pros are already signed up to hear about relevant Barks in our brand new trades categories. If you’re new to Bark, you can join them today and start hearing about potential customers in your area completely free.

Click the link below now to claim your free Bark account and start growing your business with our service right away.

Get the best leads for your business now.

It’s New Year’s resolution time – make 2017 your best year yet with Bark!

After another trip around the sun, it’s time to start thinking about your goals for the year ahead. The New Year is a chance to turn over a new leaf, ditch those bad habits and take on exciting new challenges!

Some people struggle to stick to their resolutions each year. But with Bark, finding a skilled expert to help you stay on track is easy.

Simply choose one of our top New Year’s resolutions from the list below and place a Bark to get quotes from local pros fast and free.

Get fit with a personal trainer

With the indulgent Christmas period behind you, it’s time to start sculpting your ‘beach body’ in preparation for the glorious British summertime.

Every year, millions of Brits resolve to jump on the treadmill and get into the best shape of their lives. But, without a professional to motivate them, most don’t even make it past January.

That’s why it’s so important to have someone there to keep you in the gym and pushing yourself to your limits. Place a personal training Bark now to get quotes from local pros fast and free.

Learn a new language with language lessons

They say to have a second language is to possess a second soul. So perhaps it’s surprising how few of us take the time to get fluent in a second tongue.

Not only will learning a new language make it easier to explore many of the world’s greatest foreign holiday destinations – it can also give you a crucial edge in the jobs market.

So if you want to expand your mind and open up new personal horizons this year, place a Bark now to find local language tutors fast and free.

Unleash your inner creativity with guitar lessons

We believe everyone should be able to pick up an instrument and play a few tunes. It’s a great way to relax and de-stress, while simultaneously sharpening your mind.

The guitar is a great instrument for beginners because it’s versatile, it sounds great – and you can start playing almost right away.

Master a few basic hand shapes and you’ll be jamming popular songs by Nirvana, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin and more in no time.

Get organised with a professional life coach

A life coach can help you come to terms with the radical changes that are often necessary in order to live your life to its fullest.

From going for that big promotion at work, to improving your social life, or even proposing to your other half – it can be hard to identify what steps you’ll need to take to achieve your dreams.

A great life coach will help you navigate your way to change and support you moving forward as you begin to enjoy a happier, healthier life.

Quit smoking with hypnotherapy sessions

The rewards of giving up smoking are huge, and they begin immediately. The amount of carbon monoxide in your bloodstream will start to decline in just a few hours – and you’ll start feeling fitter and healthier in a matter of weeks.

But those first few days without cigarettes will also be when your nicotine cravings are at their strongest, and many people find it impossible to quit without help from a trained professional.

Place a Bark now to find recommended hypnotherapists in your area to help you overcome your addiction and ditch your smoking habit for good.

Top Pro Interview: “Bark is the Holy Grail – a lead producing system that works!”

Brian Wilcock always wanted to be a professional photographer. But, for much of his life, fate led him down a different path.

He was inspired to enter the charity sector when his son became disabled, and spent 12 years working for the learning disabilities charity, Mencap. So it wasn’t until 2005 that he finally had the opportunity to fulfil his lifetime ambition and become a full time wedding photographer.

Today, his company Imagination Creative is one of the most popular wedding photography services on Bark – and he’s booked over £17,000 in new business in his first eight months with us.

“I have booked 17 jobs worth a total of £17,237”

Brian first discovered Bark in February this year. Although he was initially wary because of bad experiences with lead generation companies in the past, he eventually decided to give us a try.

“When I realised that Bark had a different system that involved detailed information for individual clients I decided to give it a go,” he explains. “I’m certainly glad I did.”

placeholder — *Brian Wilcock at a wedding photography job he booked through Bark!*

He adds: “At the time of writing I have booked and collected deposits for 17 jobs worth a total of £17,237.”

When he secured his first job through Bark, Brian was pleased our service had succeeded where so many others fail.

Having worked in sales most of his adult life, he says he can appreciate the value of a system that finds genuine customers looking for your services.

“It was refreshing and encouraging to feel that I may finally have found a viable source of lead production,” he explains. “I think my favourite thing about Bark is the quality of the information received for each potential client.

“As the requests are obviously completed by the client individually, it tends to be more accurate than other agencies I have tried.”

Brian currently still uses traditional methods to find new photography clients. But, if his current rate of success continues, he says he can foresee a time when Bark becomes his sole source of business leads.

As such, he highly recommends Bark to any wedding photographer who might be thinking about giving us a try.

“Any established photographer will have tried a number of ways to find that Holy Grail – a lead producing system that works,” he says. “My advice would be to forget all the failed methods you’ve tried in the past and give Bark a try, because this one actually does work and you won’t regret it.”

Start hearing about customers in your area today, free

Bark is fast becoming the UK’s leading platform for businesses seeking new clients in a wide range of industries – from photographers to personal trainers, tradespeople and more.

With over 600 different categories to choose from, businesses of all shapes and sizes can find new customers quickly and easily with our service.

Join our network of 80,000+ registered businesses today and we’ll start alerting you to new customers completely free of charge – so you can see firsthand how easy it can be to secure new business with Bark.

Click the link below now to claim your free Bark account and start growing your business with Bark right away.

Start growing your business with Bark today

Top Pro Interview: “Bark has added another string to my bow”

Ask any professional magician where they find new customers and, until recently, they’d have told you all their work comes through word of mouth. But that’s rapidly changing, thanks to online marketplaces like Bark.

It’s Magic Time‘s Tony Charles is one of thousands of UK magicians who are transforming their businesses with Bark. He joined our platform in July this year, and has been using it to find new customers ever since.

“I get about 200 bookings a year, and so far in 2-3 months I have got seven from Bark – which should extrapolate to about 28 for the year,” he explains. “Not bad as this is work I probably would not have received.”

Why magicians all over the UK are growing their businesses with Bark

Tony says his first seven bookings with Bark are worth more than £1,000 on paper. But, as he explains, the value of a booking through our platform goes far beyond the fee for the job itself.

“60% of my clients rebook,” he says. “Many refer and every booking is a showcase and generates further bookings. So that initial £1,000 of income will grow, even without further bookings from Bark.”

Tony Charles made around £1,000 in his first 2-3 months with Bark — *Tony Charles made over £1,000 in his first 2-3 months with Bark*

Now he’s got to grips with the Bark platform, Tony says he’s finding it easy to find new clients.

In fact, he’s already secured another three jobs through Bark since we interviewed him.

“I would say it is less time consuming than many other [marketing] methods and that is of great value,” he says. “To generate new clients with little effort is a great bonus.”

When asked what advice he had for other magicians thinking about giving Bark a try, he said the best thing would be to certainly give it a try.

“Give yourself a budget and a time limit to try it out and get the profile built up,” he says. “Also, experiment with your responses and definitely put the Bark Reviews badge on your own website. That is brilliant as all your clients can post – and all prospective clients can see – testimonials.”

He adds: “The clients I have received through Bark so far include adult birthday parties, children’s birthday parties and a school prom.”

Claim your FREE Bark account and start growing your business today

Bark is fast becoming the UK’s leading platform for businesses seeking new clients in a wide range of industries – from entertainers to tradespeople, business professionals and more.

With over 600 different categories to choose from, businesses of all shapes and sizes can find new customers quickly and easily with our service.

Join our network of 80,000+ registered businesses today and we’ll start alerting you to new customers completely free of charge – so you can see how easy it can be to secure new business with Bark.

Click the link below now to claim your free Bark account and start hearing about customers in your area right away.

Start growing your business with Bark today

5 essential checks to keep your home cosy and warm this winter

It’s National Maintenance Week! Founded in 2015 by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, this annual campaign is dedicated to reminding people how vital proper maintenance is during the winter months.

“Maintenance makes a difference – never put it off!” says National Maintenance Week spokesman and TV archaeologist, Neil Oliver. “The longer you ignore a problem, the harder it becomes to put it right.”

To help you keep your home in top shape and avoid costly repairs in the springtime, here’s our essential guide to maintaining your home this winter.

Wrap your pipes up warm

Being full of water, pipes have a tendency to freeze in winter. As the liquid inside them cools, it expands rapidly and puts strain on your pipes.

As a result, thousands of UK families experience blocked or burst pipes each year during winter cold snaps – especially those who live in older properties, or in colder parts of the country.

To make sure this doesn’t happen to you, we recommend drafting in a professional insulator to wrap your pipes up warm with insulating foam.

Get your boiler serviced so it runs smoothly

There’s nothing nicer than returning to a warm home on a bitterly cold day – but before you put the heating on full blast, you should book your boiler in for its annual checkup.

The extra strain that’s put on your boiler during the colder months can cause it to leak or break. So it’s important to make sure yours is in top working order before it gets too nasty outside.

It’s also a great way to make sure your central heating is running efficiently, and could save you up to 25% on your heating bills.

Bleed your radiators so they run efficiently

If your radiators are creaking, or colder at the top than they are at the bottom, that’s a sure sign there’s trapped air inside them keeping the heat from circulating properly.

That means it’s time to grab a towel, get on your knees and bleed your radiator. It’s a messy job, but a small price to pay for a lovely warm home.

Or, if you’d prefer not to get your hands dirty, simply place a Bark now to get quotes from local plumbers fast and free.

Keep the heat in with proper home insulation

About a quarter of your home’s heat it lost straight through the roof. So if you want to keep your home warm without having the heating on 24/7, the first thing to do is check your loft and wall cavity insulation.

Upgrading your current home insulation needn’t cost the Earth, and it could save you a fortune on heating bills over the long run.

Place a home insulation Bark now to get quotes from local insulation professionals fast and free.

Clear your guttering of leaves and debris

Gutters have one job – to guide rainwater off your roof and straight down the drain. But, despite their importance, it can be all too easy to forget about them until something goes badly wrong.

Allowing your gutters to become clogged can cause serious structural damage to your house, and lead to health issues for you and your family from the damp.

That’s why it’s important to hire someone to check your guttering thoroughly at least once a year to keep everything working properly.

Find Christmas ‘gift experiences’ for all the family with Bark

If you’re still agonising over finding the perfect gifts for your friends and family, we want to let you in on a secret: studies show that experiences make far better gifts than things.

It may sound counterintuitive at first, but the simple fact is people value experiences more highly than objects. We get excited when we’re looking forward to them, we love reminiscing about them – and we get more value out of them compared to traditional gifts.

So forget spending hours searching through crowded shopping centres for things to buy your friends and family – and take a look the thoughtful “gift experiences” you can find right here on Bark.

Surprise your other half with a luxury spa treatment

Spa treatments like manicures, massages and aromatherapy sessions are the classic ‘experience’ gifts for lovers and spouses. Everyone loves getting pampered after the hectic festive season, making these treatments great for winning brownie points from your other half.

So whether you want to receive a professional massage in the comfort of your own home, or book a luxury afternoon at a local spa – place your Bark today to get quotes from local masseurs fast and free.

Keep your kids fit and healthy with martial arts classes

If you’re looking for a way to encourage your kids to take more physical exercise, martial arts classes could be for you.

Unlike most team sports, martial arts are easy to practice independently – and group classes provide a great opportunity for your child to get out and meet new friends.

Better yet the popularity of martial arts movie franchises like Karate Kid and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles means your child is sure to love unwrapping their brand new martial arts uniform on Christmas day.

Try yoga classes for the fitness fanatic in the family

The practice of yoga has been helping people of all ages finesse their mind, body and soul for over 5,000 years. It’s the perfect for building flexibility, toning your body and de-stressing after a long week at work.

With a range of types to choose from depending on your strength, conditioning and spiritual goals – there’s a yoga style out there for everyone. So place your Bark now to find yoga classes in your area get quotes from local instructors fast and free.

Treat yourself to a makeover at your local beauty salon

They say Christmas is about the giving, not the receiving. But that doesn’t mean you can’t give yourself a little something as a reward for getting the shopping out of the way!

Why not treat yourself to a spray tan, gel pedicure and facial to unwind after the hectic Christmas shopping gauntlet. Click the link below now and book yourself in at a top local beauty salon so you can look your best throughout the holiday season.

How ‘service areas’ help us find the best leads for your business

We help tens of thousands of small businesses throughout the UK find new customers every single day – from accountants in Acton, to window cleaners in Wandsworth.

But with customers coming to Bark looking for everything from personal trainers to masseurs, wedding planners and more, matching each customer with the right service providers is no small feat.

That’s where ‘service areas’ come in – and today, we’ll show you how to update your service areas to hear about the best leads for your business.

STEP 1: Let us know which services you provide

Service areas let you adjust the type and quantity of enquiries you receive from us. If you’d like to hear about more leads, you can add new services or widen the service area you cover – and vice versa.

Similarly, if your business relocates or branches out into a new type of service, you can update your service areas to reflect this so that we continue sending you enquiries you’re interested in pursuing.

The first step is to click the ‘Service Areas‘ tab in your dashboard. This will take you to your service areas page, where you’ll see a box that looks like this:

Enter your services here — *Enter which services you provide into your ‘Services’ bar to get started.*

Type the service your business provides into the box and click the ‘ADD SERVICE‘ button to let us know what sort of customers you’re interested in hearing about.

STEP 2: Add relevant ‘related services’

When you add a new service type to your service areas page, we’ll then suggest some related services we think your business might also provide.

For example, if you tell us you’d like to receive photography enquiries, we’ll present you with a list of related categories like this one:

Add related services — *Next, add the related services you also provide.*

Simply tick the check boxes next to the categories you’re interested in to add them to your services.

STEP 3: Tell us how far you’re happy to travel

At this stage, we know what you do – but before we can start sending you relevant enquiries, we also need to know where you do it.

To specify your travel preferences, type where your business is based into your Travel Preferences bar and enter how far you’ll travel from there:

Enter your travel preferences here — *Specify how far you’re prepared to travel using the ‘Travel Preferences’ tool.*

Clicking ‘ADD LOCATION‘ will plot your chosen radius onto a map around your chosen city, so you can visualise where the customers we alert you to will be based.

If you offer multiple services, you can then click the ‘Show categories‘ button to specify a different radius for each of them:

Your advanced travel preferences — *Click ‘Show categories’ to specify different service areas for each of the different services you provide.*

This can be useful in cases where you’re prepared to travel further for certain types of high value job (e.g. loft conversion) than you are for lower value ones (e.g. bricklaying).

Finally, you can select whether you want to receive enquiries from customers who are searching nationwide using the toggle button at the bottom of the page – and after that, there’s just one thing left to do.

STEP 4: Start contacting customers!

Once your service areas are set up, you’ll automatically start receiving emails whenever a new customer requests your services. You can also find a list of everyone who’s currently searching for services you provide in the ‘Requests‘ tab of your dashboard.

When you see a job you’re interested in doing, simply click the green ‘CONTACT‘ button to send them a personalised message and estimate.

We hope you’ve found this simple walkthrough useful, and that it helps you secure even more business with our service. If you have any questions, send us an email at team@bark.com, or leave a comment in the space below!

Party season is nearly here! Plan an unforgettable Christmas do today with Bark

With Christmas party season nearly upon us, now is the time to start planning if you want to make sure your festive do is remembered for all the right reasons.

As with any big seasonal event, all the best local venues and entertainers usually get booked up well in advance – meaning it’s never too early to start getting into the festive spirit.

So dig out your ugliest sweater, put Cliff Does Christmas on the stereo and take a look at our guide to planning the ultimate Christmas party!

Find a great venue

Unless you want to spend your night at home or crammed into the office break room, finding a great venue for your Christmas party should be right at the top of your party planning checklist.

Look for somewhere that’s easy to get to and, more importantly, easy to get home from at the end of the night. But remember, the best party venues will often get booked months in advance, so it’s important to start planning early.

Place a venue hire Bark now and we’ll begin searching for great local party venues on your behalf right away.

Choose a theme

No party is complete without a great theme to tie everything together. This is your chance to get creative with your outfit, and your friends will revel in the opportunity to get all dressed up.

We recommend sending a simple poll around to gauge what sort of event everyone’s in the mood for. Include a fair spread of options, ranging from festive causal to black tie, or even fancy dress.

Then, when you’ve settled on something, place an event decoration Bark to find a great local pro to bring your theme to life.

Make sure the food is top notch

Great food is a must at any party. Drinks will be flowing, and the last thing anyone wants is to be stumbling in the gutter at the end of the night.

Find out what your budget is, check whether anyone has any special eating requirements and look for a menu that has something for everyone.

Whether you’re planning a large sit down meal, or a simple party buffet – we’ll find a great local caterer to line your guest’s stomachs and keep them dancing all night long.

Don’t forget the entertainment!

If you want to go the extra mile to give your guests a night to remember, there’s a huge range of entertainment options you can choose from.

Hiring a photo booth, booking a closeup magician, or even enlisting some event performers are all great ways to get everyone into the party spirit. But the most important ingredient at any Christmas party is music.

Lining up Christmas tunes on a Spotify playlist is all well and good, but you can’t beat hiring a professional DJs if you want to guarantee your guests will be dancing all night long.

Capture the whole night on film

Last but not least, don’t forget to record the evidence! Or, better yet, hire a professional to do it for you.

This is a night your friends will be talking about for months to come, so it’s well worth having someone there to document everything and create a great photo album you can all flick through together in January.

Place your Bark now and we’ll do all the legwork to get you quotes from local event photographers fast and free.

Now you can show off how many times you’ve been hired on Bark!

You can now display how many of our users have hired you prominently on your Bark profile.

Whenever someone hires you, simply click the new ‘I was hired‘ button next to their Bark in the My Responses section of your dashboard and we’ll automatically add them to your total.

Then, when new customers view your profile, they’ll be able to see you have a proven track record of helping other Bark users with their projects – like It’s Magic Time here:

It's Magic Time I was hired — *Tony Charles has been hired seven times since he joined Bark in June.*

Buyers can also let us know when they’ve hired you using the new ‘I’ve hired someone‘ button in their dashboard – and we’ll ask them who they’ve hired when they close their Bark.

You can see all the Barks you’ve responded to in the My Responses section of your dashboard, so be sure to go back and click ‘I was hired‘ for all the jobs you’ve secured through Bark to date.

We’ll also now show you your average response time if you get back to customers quickly Bark Messenger. So be sure to respond to customers as quickly as possible to maximise your chances of success!

King Pest Control response time — *King Pest Control responds to pest control Barks in four minutes flat, on average!*

This feature should prove especially useful if you work in an industry like pest control or boiler repair, where customers are often looking for someone who can help them right away.

Combined with the customer reviews you collect on your profile, these new features will give you a real edge over the competition when pitching for business on Bark.

We hope you find them useful, and look forward to helping you secure even more business in the coming weeks and months.

If you have any further thoughts or ideas about how we can help you promote your business one Bark, send us an email at team@bark.com, or leave a comment in the space below!