This wasn’t just another job — it was an opportunity to flex some different creative muscles and build a site that matched the craftsmanship and polish of their work.

Moving from Chainsaws to Chisels

Most of our clients operate in the tree care industry. We’re used to designing sites that focus on services like crown reductions, emergency callouts, and stump grinding. With Leechcroft, the brief was very different.

They specialise in:

• Bespoke carpentry in Kent
• Full home refurbishment
• Outdoor carpentry projects

Everything they build is made to measure, from scratch — no shortcuts, no off-the-shelf solutions. Their attention to detail and the level of finish they deliver had to be reflected in the website itself.

Building a High-End Feel

One of the biggest challenges was tone. Tree surgeon websites typically lean into bold visuals and urgent messaging — safety, qualifications, response times. In contrast, Leechcroft needed a tone that was refined, confident, and quietly impressive.

We restructured the layout to focus on:

• Clean typography and warm tones
• Detailed case studies showcasing their custom joinery work
• Subtle transitions and thoughtful spacing that mirror the precision of their builds

The content was written in a voice that speaks directly to discerning homeowners — the kind of clients looking for a team who can manage a full home renovation or deliver flawless made-to-measure carpentry.

Why This Project Matters

Aside from being a refreshing creative challenge, this site is also an example of what Arbtalk Media can do outside the arborist world. We’re always open to working with skilled tradespeople who care deeply about their craft — whether they’re climbing trees or crafting kitchens.

If you’re based in the South East and looking for expert bespoke carpentry in Kent, we highly recommend checking out Leechcroft Carpentry. Their work speaks for itself.

Want a Website That Matches Your Craft?

Whether you’re a tree surgeon, builder, or carpenter, your website should reflect the standard of your work. If you’re ready to elevate your online presence, get in touch — we’ll help you create something that feels as considered and custom as the work you do.

The post A Change of Scenery: Designing a Website for Leechcroft Carpentry Services Ltd appeared first on Arbtalk Media | Websites for Tree Surgeons.

We are certainly living in strange times this year, there’s no doubt about that, but with tree surgeons all over the country seemingly inundated with work it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking its business as usual! Just seeing the number of jobs for tree surgeons being posted online on a daily basis alone tells us how much work is out there right now. The big question is, will it continue?

How to Prepare for A Recession

It seems difficult to see any way that this country, or indeed the world, won’t enter into a deep recession sometime next year. In addition to Covid-19, we also have the unknown quantity that is Brexit hanging over our heads.

I was lucky enough back in the 2007 recession not to feel the pinch too much. At that time I was freelancing as a climber to several companies whose client base was wealthy enough to be largely unaffected. As a result, my workflow carried on much as usual, but that’s not to say I am not thinking very carefully about my own strategies for the coming year(s). A friend once told me me that in a recession you’ll be glad to get out and earn £50 a day, and that has always stuck in my mind.

Now i’m no financial expert by any means so can’t really offer any business advice for recession proofing your business. What I can tell you though is that your online presence is going to be of paramount importance if you want to keep ahead of your competitors. Advertising is obviously the key here, be it paper ads, online ads, or good old word of mouth, it all counts.

Whist times are good it’s easy to overlook business advertising, or just see it as an unnecessary expense. I’ve lost count of the times people have said ‘I’m busy enough as it is, I don’t need any more work’, or ‘When things slow down I’ll advertise a bit more’. In the case of traditional advertising that can often yield instant results, but what about SEO?

SEO for Tree Surgeons

SEO for tree surgeons is just another form of advertising, but done properly it will pay dividends in the long run. I see SEO as more of a long term advertising investment. Yes you can sign up for google adwords and start seeing clicks to your site immediately, but what happens when you stop running the ads? Your traffic stops of course, and unless you have been implementing a solid SEO strategy alongside your ads, you will find your visitor flow somewhat lacking. SEO on the other hand will see long term organic(free) traffic coming to your site long after the initial work has been completed. However, the problem with SEO is you can’t just turn it on when you are running short of work, hence the title of this blog post.

When & How Do I SEO My Tree Surgery Business Website?

When Do I Start?

The time is right now! Assuming you have an existing site and it is already well established it can still take 3-6 months to really see the benefits of SEO in the search engine rankings. Let’s say 6 months to be on the safe side, which takes us into April 2021 which is probably one of the quieter times in a tree surgeons calendar even in normal years. Taking your first steps now to improve your website’s SEO will hopefully put your business in a better position to weather the coming storm.

How?

First things first, read this post as a starting point. SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is an in-depth subject in which there are 1001 ways to make errors, and few ways of making gains. Most people with a bit of common sense and a little bit of techincal know-how can get the basics right however. One of the easiest things you can do is get into the habit of writing regular blogs on your website. The more effort you put in the more you will see a return, and all you have to do is follow a few simple guidlines as listed in the aforementioned blog post.

• Use relevant meta titles and meta descriptions that reflect the content of what you have written and use the keywords you are targeting.
• Format your pages correctly using heading tags in their correct order, making sure to include your targetted keywords. Theres a good and easy to follow article on headings here.
• Write enough content! Try to hit 300 words as a minimum, ensuring you get your keywords into the text in the correct density for google. Be careful not to overdo it with the keywords though or you’ll quickly find your site marked down. If your website is running on wordpress there are several free tools available that will analyse what you have written to ensure you don’t fall into this trap.

But I Don’t Have Time to Manage My Blog

Its all about priorities really! Lots of people seem quite happy to constantly update their Facebook pages which arguably brings in little work, yet neglect the content on their actual business website. If you are going to post in just one place, then your website really should be the priority without question. You can always share your website post to your Facebook page after you have written it, killing 2 birds with one stone. This is actually a far better way of harnessing the power of Facebook anyway as the posts you share will not only provide content to your page, but most importantly will bring visitors to your website to read more…in other words away from Facebook and all it’s many distractions!

Once you have written a couple of articles/blogs and get in the swing of things its really not much of a chore to write, particularly if its a subject you are knowledgable about. I really cannot emphasize the importance of this enough, and taking 30 minutes once a week to update your website could just make the difference to your business in the times ahead.

REMEMBER – The time to start is NOW!

As always, if you need help feel free to write to me at steve@arbtalkmedia.co.uk.

The post Why NOW Is the Time to Focus on Your SEO appeared first on Arbtalk Media | Websites for Tree Surgeons.

The focus here at Arbtalk Media has been and always will be on the development of websites for arborists. I have completed several projects outside of this niche but it’s not something I have ever really pushed for. Most of the work has been for friends, or referrals from friends.

Our own personal circumstances have changed somewhat. My partner Simona (and also chief spell checker) has recently taken redundancy from her job due to Covid basically wiping out all their business. Whilst on maternity leave we looked carefully at our options and decided to have a go at an online shop selling baby teething jewellery. Starting a business in a field that is totally alien to you is a huge challenge with a lot to learn. Seeing what goes into the development of products, and the costs involved in testing them is a real eye-opener. Our own products that Simona makes herself include teething necklaces, teething rings, and dummy clips. In addition, we have been actively searching for good quality brands to stock to ensure our catalogue has enough items to keep our customers browsing, such as Silicone bibs, dummies, and toys. Thankfully my main role in the business is in handling the website build and offering some business advice where required/asked for so I don’t have to concern myself too much with the individual products, other than ensuring they pop up in Google here and there with the use of a carefully thought out SEO strategy!

Overall I am enjoying the new challenge. It’s good to have something different to focus on occasionally, and of course, starting a new business is always exciting, waiting for those first new orders to come flooding in! Unfortunately at the moment, it’s somewhere between a drip and a trickle, but with a lot of hard work we hope to build this into something worthwhile.

We’d love to hear from you if you’ve had any new ideas during the pandemic, and of course, we’d love to be involved if you need help with web creation, or even implementing ideas into your existing websites.

You can follow our progress so far at Mamiina Teething Products, or by liking our Facebook page.

Fast forward a couple of years and Mamiina has gone from strength to strength with the opening of our baby shop in Suffolk at Stonham Barns Park between Ipswich and Stowmarket. Our range has expanded to include a full range of baby products including larger equipment such as baby prams, strollers, cots, next-to-me cribs, and much more!

Supporting local businesses

As part of our expansion, we have made the decision to support other local businesses by providing shelf space for them to display their products within our store. This has benefited the shop immensely due to the originality of the products on offer. We are really excited to welcome our latest local business, Little Lavender Baby Boutique which is a business start-up selling baby clothes in Woodbridge.

The post Branching Out During Covid-19 appeared first on Arbtalk Media | Websites for Tree Surgeons.

You may have heard SSL certificates mentioned before. They are nothing new and have in fact been around for over 20 years, but with recent changes to how Google displays websites, it has never been more important your website to have one. As of July 2018 Google actively marks all websites without an SSL certificate as ‘not secure’

What does an SSL Certificate Actually do?

An SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate ensures that sensitive data entered on your site by your visitors is encrypted and transferred over a secure network. While this might not seem a critical requirement if all you have on your site is a simple contact form, it doesn’t change the fact that visitors will see a warning that your site is not secure.

The problem here arises when your visitor doesn’t truly understand the meaning of the ‘not secure’ message. Whilst it doesn’t mean your site itself is going to magically infect their computer with a virus, there is a high probability that a certain percentage of visitors will believe this to be the case. Their next action on your site may very well be to exit and go to your competitor’s site instead.

So with the basics of an SSL certificate covered, let’s look at 4 reasons why your tree surgery website should have one.

1. Increase Your Website’s Security

The primary function of the SSL certificate is to protect any sensitive data transmitted to and from your website. This could include things such as login details, registrations, addresses, and payment information. If you are using a site that takes any of these details then you absolutely should have an SSL certificate. And even if you are not, you should still have one for the reasons listed above.

2. Secure Your Subdomains

Arbtalk Media Ltd include wildcard SSL certificates as standard with our tree surgery website hosting. These specific types of SSL allow you to secure your main site as well as any subdomains you may be using. If you are running a large website with several subdomains that means you only ever need to install one SSL certificate.

3. Website Credibility and Trust

In this day and age, cyber security is a massive threat and the majority of users are more aware than ever of the risks. Not having an SSL certificate means your visitors may see a warning that your site is unsafe. On the other hand, with an SSL certificate installed your visitors will see your site marked as secure. This will help gain your visitor’s trust.

4. SEO Advantages

Having an SSL certificate will give your site a slight boosting rank. Whether or not it is a significant reason alone to upgrade is not clear yet. One thing is clear however. If all your competitor’s sites have an SSL and you don’t, you are immediately at a disadvantage.

How do I get an SSL Certificate for my Tree Surgery Website?

Arbtalk Media Ltd supplies wildcard SSL certificates free with all our hosting packages. If we are building a site for you, then your new site will come with an SSL as standard. If you’re migrating your site to us, we will install an SSL certificate as part of the process. Even if your website isn’t with us, it should be a relatively simple task for any host to implement. Be warned though, some are still trying to charge you for the privilege.

Get in touch with us at info@arbtalkmedia.co.uk for more information.

The post 4 Reasons why you Need an SSL Certificate appeared first on Arbtalk Media | Websites for Tree Surgeons.

So you want to write your own content for your arborist business website? Or perhaps you already have a website but want to start adding high quality blog posts?

Theres 2 routes you can go down. Firstly, you can write sloppy rushed content with poor grammar and overall content, or secondly, invest some time and energy into researching your subject and come up with some knock out content.

The path to take should be pretty clear for most people. If you want your site to rank in the search engines you need well written, compelling, easy to read, and accurate content.

Keep it Original

There are a fair few websites out there these days, and it is increasingly more difficult to write original copy. But the one thing that Google does not like for certain is duplicate content. It’s probably not going to get you blacklisted, but neither it is going to ever rank very well.

It certainly isn’t easy writing an original page for a tree surgery website however. Let’s look at just one page for now, say stump grinding. How many things are there you can say on this topic without sounding very similar to a thousand other sites in the country, perhaps some even close by.

Even this very blog post you are reading has been written thousands of times over by different authors. The chances are we are mostly saying the same thing. So what makes this post any better than the others out there? Well firstly, i’m not saying it is..I certainly hope it will be though. The main thing here is the focus. This post, while it may have similarities to others, its key focus point is on how to write content for tree surgery websites. I can’t be sure of course without spending a bit of time on Google, but after a cursory glance, the competition is pretty thin on the ground. Why take the hard route when I can narrow down my target audience and increase the chances of ranking high?

Create Strong Headlines and Sub Headings

People seem to have shorter and shorter attention spans these days. The chances are if they turn up on your site and are greeted with an overly long page of text, they may not make it past the first paragraph. It is therefore important to have an attention grabbing headline. Following on from this, the paragraphs should be kept reasonably short, and with regular sub headings with strong messages. This helps keep your readers engaged, and perhaps even helps them skip to the very part of your text they came searching for in the first place.

Heres some interesting statistics to consider:

• 80% of people will read your main headline
• Only 20% of those people will read the rest of your content

These stats speak for themselves and clearly emphasize the importance of powerful headlines.

Does Your Content Provide Answers?

So Google has sent traffic to your site. You have done something right with your SEO so well done, but does your content ultimately answer the question or the purpose of the visitor?

Let’s say you have written a blog post on ‘how to plant and care for a new tree’. Will the visitor get every piece of information they need from reading your content? Have you made it so well written and informative that the reader will feel compelled to share it with their friends on social media?

Make Your Content Accurate

I don’t need to tell you how important it is to make your content accurate, especially so on a business website. Your site is a reflection of your company, a shop window so to speak. You should therefore expect your content to be read not just be your clients, but also your competition.

When content writing for tree surgery websites, if you are doing it yourself then the chances are your content should be accurate. Certainly if you are experienced in the field. If you’re not, why not consider having your content reviewed by your arborist friends?

How Can I Make my Content More Trustworthy?

Heres a few simple things to consider adding to your content:

• Link to other content: Back up the claims in your content by linking to articles from reputable sources. This will help build trust amongst your visitors.
• Who are you linking to: Is it a well-known source that people will recognise instantly? Let’s take our example above of a tree planting article. Why not consider linking to a well known website offering advice on how to choose the right tree?
• Improve your ranking with links: Linking to other websites with content relating to your article helps Google understand better what your content is about. In turn, it helps it to categorize it, ultimately putting it in front of the right visitor first time.

Remember to Add Images and Video

People love images and videos and are probably far more likely to share your content as a result. Look at them as learning aids. A well chosen image will not only compliment your writing, but also illustrate and enforce it. You can see an example of this by opening up any modern textbook.

Think about your article in advance and find photos that will add relevance. Everyone has a camera in their pockets these days in the form of a mobile phone. Make use of it, and be imaginative!

Make Regular Updates to the Content on your Tree Surgery Website

Finally, once you have grasped the basics of writing great content for your tree surgery website, put it to work regularly. Having a blog section on your business website is a hugely overlooked tool. It is by far the simplest way to get regular content added to your website and should ideally have time allotted on a weekly basis.

Consider this, how much time do you spend on social media, either interacting or simply browsing through meaningless videos or meme’s. This time could be far better spent instead adding content to your business website to be shared to your Facebook (or other social media) business page.

Remember, search engines don’t favour sites that aren’t regularly updated.

In Closing

If you are serious about increasing the exposure of your tree surgery business website on Google, then content writing shouldn’t be taken lightly. It can take a lot of time to research an article to ensure what you are writing is accurate. Add to that, getting the grammar correct, content organised properly, and coming up with compelling titles, it is not a straight forward process.

Thankfully there are several tools out there which help to analyse your content for spelling mistakes or other grammatical errors. Use them!

Happy writing!

The post Content Writing for Tree Surgery Websites appeared first on Arbtalk Media | Websites for Tree Surgeons.

Have you Received A Threatening Email Scam to your Business?

Email spam abuse is nothing new, yet still people are tricked into parting with their cash each and every day. One of the latest scams to hit inboxes all over the world is threatening the lifetime blocking of the recipients website and URL. Several people have contacted me already asking if they should be worried.

Heres an example of one such email currently doing the rounds

Hey.

Soon your hosting account and your domain (our website) will be blocked forever, and you will receive tens of thousands of negative feedback from angry people.

Here is a list of what you get if you don’t follow my requirements:

+ abuse spamhouse for aggressive web spam

+ tens of thousands of negative reviews about you and your website from angry people for aggressive web and email spam

+ lifetime blocking of your hosting account for aggressive web and email spam

+ lifetime blocking of your domain for aggressive web and email spam

+ Thousands of angry complaints from angry people will come to your mail and messengers for sending you a lot of spam

+ complete destruction of your reputation and loss of clients forever

+ for a full recovery from the damage you need tens of thousands of dollars

Do you want this?If you do not want the above problems, then before June 1, 2019, you need to send me 0.3 BTC to my Bitcoin wallet:

Should I be Concerned About This?

In short, no. These are largely a generic email spam sent automatically to thousands of recipients at a time. They rely on only having to fool the odd person. Imagine you can send 10,000 emails like this at the click of a button and just 1 person panics and coughs up each time?

What Should I do if I Receive an Email Like This?

If you haven’t already, it’s highly likely you will receive an email like this at some point. I personally get emails just like this on an almost daily basis. Most of them do end up in my spam where they belong, but the ones I do read get ignored promptly. Sometimes it’s not quite as obvious if an email is from a legitimate source. Heres just 2 simple things you can and should do for any email you have concerns about, whether it be a threatening scam email or a suspicious email from your bank, Paypal or similar.

If you’re really concerned and think the email could be fraudulent in nature, you could always consider reporting it here.

Check the Senders Email Address

Here’s an email I received just the other day which is a perfect example. At first glance, you could be fooled into thinking its from an official source from the ICO. Simply hovering over the reply-to field reveals the email address. In this case a Hotmail address, a clear giveaway that its not a reputable business and nothing more than an email scam. You will typically be able to spot a fake paypal email (or similar) very quickly using this simple check.

 

 

Verify the Email Content

Another very quick and simple test. Copy/paste the content of the email into a google search. You can immediately see if others are receiving emails with the same content, and if it is listed as a known scam.

 

 

For further advice on email issues, website design or SEO, email us at info@arbtalkmedia.co.uk

 

The post Abuse and Lifetime Blocking of the Site Email Scam appeared first on Arbtalk Media | Websites for Tree Surgeons.

This is a massive topic, and far too big to go into on a single blog post, but let’s try and delve briefly into some of the basics of SEO for tree surgery websites.

How to get to No.1 in Google?

Let’s get one thing straight. There’s no easy way to get your tree surgery website to the top of Google. For some, you could try your whole life to get that coveted no.1 position and still not come close, regardless of how much money you throw at it. Often it seems there’s no rhyme or reason as to who gets the top spot, and its true in my opinion that a certain amount of it comes down to luck.

The way Google crawls and ranks websites is such a closely guarded secret, the best anyone can do is experiment with new techniques and hope it improves their ranking. But even if those new techniques work, there’s no telling in the next Google algorithm change if you might be penalised and knocked back into the Google abyss. It’s often been said, the best place to hide a body is on page 2 of Google, so no one really wants to be there!

Can I pay an SEO Company to Improve my Ranking?

Yes you can, but tread very carefully. If you are anything like me you probably get at least 1 email a day from someone promising to get your site to the top of Google. You should steer clear of these companies and basically, no one can promise this, and if they could they wouldn’t be emailing you. People would be flocking to them in their thousands.

Let’s look at what happens when one of these companies takes over your SEO. Let’s say they are charging you £500 a month with the promise of getting top spot. They very well might succeed, and if they do it’s quite likely they are using what is known as Black Hat SEO. These are questionable techniques (cheating if you like), that Google will pick up on eventually. The end result may be that your site ends up ranking lower than when you started.

Take a look at the stats below. This tree surgery company enlisted the help of an SEO company. The company created a heap of low quality links to their site trying to fool Google into believing the site was popular. It worked, at least for a while. The picture below speaks volumes.

Thankfully the site above is now recovering, with a more pragmatic approach to SEO. What we are looking to achieve is a steady but stable increase over time.

On-Site and Off-Site SEO for Tree Surgery Websites

There are 2 different types of SEO which are referred to as on-site and off-site. Both are massive subjects which we will cover in more detail at a later date.

On-Site SEO

This is SEO that is carried out directly on your website. It encompasses many things including the text, site optimisation (speed/performance), images, and website formatting. SEO for tree surgery websites should always focus on good content first and foremost.

Off-Site SEO

The practise of creating links to your website from other sites. These sites should preferably be authoritative sites (or individual pages) relating to your niche field. The days of building a massive network of sites linking back to your site are long gone and will likely only end in a drop in ranking.

Arbtalk Media SEO Techniques

We believe SEO starts at home and therefore invest heavily in on-site SEO. Yes, links are valuable, but the most valuable links of all are created organically. That is to say, someone reads an article and decided it is so authoritative they choose to link to your site themselves. Thats not to say we don’t carry out any off-site SEO, we are just very careful how we go about it, and what sites we choose to gain links from.

SEO is an ever-changing subject with new practices being used on a daily basis. Some of it is largely experimental in nature so we always focus on the core guidelines first.

• How much text is on a page? Google needs something to read. You can’t expect to write a few lines and beat off your competitors to the top spot, regardless of how well it’s written.
• Is the text formatted correctly? Google wants to see a well-formatted page, with clear headings and structure enabling their search bots to determine what the page is about, which are the most important sections, and who it is aimed at. Are your sentences too long? Are the paragraphs between headings and sub-headings too long? These simple guidelines are often overlooked, particularly in self-built websites.
• What is the keyword density? Arguably one of the most important aspects. Once you have chosen your keywords (after doing keyword research), these need to be implemented correctly into the page. This means adding them to headings and text, and in the right ratio. Some experts also argue it matters where in the text you place these keywords. We agree, and adhere to these guidelines wherever possible. This is a tricky one to get right. Use too few keywords and your site likely won’t rank, use too many and you risk Google viewing your site as spam, and ranked accordingly…or worse, blacklisted.
• Are images formatted correctly? Images should always be sized and formatted appropriately. Not only that, but they should also carry the appropriate alt tags. Whilst Google is getting cleverer all the time, it still needs some text to explain what the image is. This is an ideal opportunity to squeeze more keywords into your page. Another area often overlooked.
• Are your meta descriptions and SEO titles following best practice guidelines? These are the page titles and descriptions that show up in a google search. What you put here is incredibly important. Not only can it influence your position in google, but it can also be the deciding factor as to whether or not someone clicks on your link. Do your research and think very carefully what you put here.

To Summarize

As already mentioned, SEO for tree surgery websites is a massive topic and can’t possibly be covered in one blog post, unless you have a few weeks to spare? We plan to get into more detail over time on specific areas to help you get the most out of your sites. In the mean time, if you want to hire an SEO for your tree surgery website with an honest and realistic approach to improving your website ranking, then don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at info@arbtalkmedia.co.uk.

Thanks for reading!

The post SEO For Tree Surgery Websites appeared first on Arbtalk Media | Websites for Tree Surgeons.

A Career in the Trees

My career in tree surgery has spanned over 22 years, starting full time at the age of 21. Although I was out doing tree work for a few years prior to that.

My first full-time job at the age of 18 was working 5 days a week, Tuesdays through to Saturdays. Being young, fit and hungry to earn money, I started working on my days off (Mondays and Sundays) for a Suffolk tree surgeon. The work was hard, but good fun and rewarding. Back then wood chippers were few and far between, and my days would be spent stacking brash into the back of trailers, repeatedly stamping it down to fit even more in. I wasn’t allowed to use a saw in these early days, and Silky’s were unheard of. All I had was a trusty Sandvik bowsaw to aid me.

I was eventually given the opportunity to use a chainsaw for the first time. A Husqvarna 261XP if memory serves, and the biggest, bulkiest oversized chainsaw trousers you can imagine. Every time I hear people moaning about how hot and heavy chainsaw trousers are, I think back to how they used to be and feel even more grateful for what we have now.

First Time Climbing

After several months (Keep in mind I was only doing this 1 or 2 days a week), I was asked if I fancied having a go at climbing. I jumped at the chance. I can still remember the Pear tree to this day, not overly tall, but leaning. I climbed the tree under supervision and took it down piece by piece. The drop zone was overly generous and the tree probably could have been felled, but it made a great little training tree for my first venture off the ground. The boss must have seen something in me, as shortly after I was offered a full-time job as a trainee climber, with a view to adding a landscaping section to the business, something I had always been keen on.

 

 

I was fortunate to have one of the best climber/teachers around in my early years. To say I was beasted on a daily basis is putting it mildly, but there was always a sense that it was being done for my benefit, and it was. All my training was done on the job, in fact, I didn’t even get my first ticket or ‘blue book’ till I had been doing the job for a good 4-5 years. Things were a little different back then!

My Progression as a Tree Surgeon

I stayed in my employed position for 7 years before deciding to turn my hand to freelance work. This was a game changer, as although I was proficient, being out there alone basically pushed me out of my comfort zone. Being in a company there was always the option of expressing concern over a job, and offering it to the more experienced climber instead…for want of a better term, bottling it! Now turning up as the no.1 climber on site that luxury no longer existed, it was a case of get the job done or go home with no cash.

This was really the turning point for me. Not just in my skill level, but also my whole attitude to the job. Having a young family to support meant I had to perform, day in, day out. I spent most of my time focussed on tree work. When I wasn’t out working I was busy reading up on anything and everything I could. Most of my time would be spent reading forums such as Arborist Site, and Treebuzz. I was amazed at the amount of information that was freely available, and the many techniques that innovators such as Mark Chisholm and Tom Dunlap were bringing to the table at that time.

My climbing set up prior to this had mostly been a hank of cheap rope and a prusik. I had previously been introduced to the Blakes hitch sometime before at a seminar with Ken Palmer and Treevolution. This seemed like a massive leap in technology at the time and was no doubt a pivotal point in the evolution of my own climbing, but nothing like the new found information I was now reading. From now on it was the Valdotain, and any other device I could think of using for tree work.

Over time I did however become disillusioned with the lack of UK participants to these American based forums. I knew they were out there, but for the most part didn’t contribute in any meaningful way. Perhaps the language barrier between us and the Americans was a factor in this, or perhaps they didn’t care. Either way, it lead me to one of the most important decisions I made in my career to date.

My First Step into the World Wide Web

One of the things people always ask me is how and why I started Arbtalk. The ‘why’ I briefly covered above. The ‘how’ is just as simple. The idea to launch a UK arborist forum came to me one Sunday whilst out in the garden cutting the grass. Seemed like a good idea to me, but would it work? I remember stopping what I was doing and calling Noddy from Treeworker.co.uk who was at that time the main recipient of most of my hard earned cash in exchange for climbing bling. I was keen to get an outsiders opinion and so briefly explained my idea over the phone and asked if there was any merit in it. His response was ‘go for it’

I literally had no idea where to begin at this point so googled vbulletin software, which was one of the most popular forum platforms available at that time. I purchased the license which was somewhere in the region of $200 if I recall, bought some web hosting, and had the software installed by one of their server technicians. That was it, within the space of around 2 hours from my original idea, on the 17th of July 2007, Arbtalk was born.

 

 

As soon as the site was live I phoned, texted, and emailed everyone I knew in the industry to let them know, and to ask their help getting some discussion going. The response was fantastic and within a very short space of time we were getting some good content out there. To my delight, a lot of the UK arborists that I had perceived as watching in the background on the US forums, seemed quite happy to come out of the shadows and contribute.

Being someone who likes to do most things themselves, I eagerly delved into the backend, playing around with stuff, looking at the code, amazingly I never managed to completely break it. After many hours in front of the screen achieving very little, I realised that whilst I could do some simple tasks, a lot of this stuff was just way out of my league at this point.

Further Development

It wasn’t long till the first sponsor came knocking, and this was great as my limited budget didn’t really allow much room for further development. This allowed me to spend more money on add ons, faster hosting, and of course the ability to stay at home on the odd day developing the site rather than climbing 5-6 days a week.

At this time I was still climbing full time, and also had a firewood business on the side. Not a massive trade, but still managed to knock out 100ton a year(solely) on top of the climbing. I was a busy man…too busy!

 

 

I was very fortunate to find a young university student named Peter quite early on. He proved invaluable for fixing the things I just couldn’t work out. I could often spend a whole day trying to fix something, only to ping him a message and he would have it completed within 5 minutes. He has stayed with me ever since, now going on 12 years, and still plays an important role in the development and server management of Arbtalk Media Ltd. It was with Peter’s help that Arbtalk had it’s first major (and expensive) overhaul, providing for the first time what looked like a professional site, and not something just cobbled together with random ideas.

 

 

As time went on, I became busier and busier with the forum. I finally made the decision around 2012 to quit the firewood business. This was a culmination of a lot of things, not just Arbtalk, but the firewood market itself had changed drastically. When I first started I had no trouble getting hold of wood. In fact, around 80% of my stock was free firewood, mostly taken home from my own jobs, or from freelance climbing jobs. However, firewood prices were on the rise now, and the people who used to be quite happy to see the back of it now saw value in keeping it themselves and processing into a valuable product.

This freed up a lot of time, but not quite enough. Shortly after I decided to also quit private work. This had been something I had been ‘playing at’ for some time, but it wasn’t me. I enjoyed climbing. I didn’t enjoy the stress of organising work, pricing, paperwork, etc. And so I sold my wood chipper, 3.5t LDV (I was glad to see the back of that), and focussed solely on freelance work.

Tree Climbing Takes its Toll on the Body

We all know how hard climbing is on the body. Some keep on going for a long time. Others develop their business to a size where they can pay someone else to do all their climbing, and some just quit the industry altogether.

I was at my peak around the age of 32-33. Strong for my size, lean, and overall pretty fit. I had always suffered with backache however, even from the age of around 16. I later developed considerable neck pain. As a result, I ended up having to see a sports masseuse every 2 weeks just to keep myself mobile, which all adds up to a considerable amount of money and time just to keep doing something you enjoy. It did help that she was quite attractive though!

At the age of 40 I had really about had it with climbing. I occasionally enjoyed it, but was pretty much in constant pain all day every day. In addition to back and neck pain, I now had shoulder, hips, elbows, knees, and hand pain. Unfortunately, my decision to quit private work had left me with no obvious escape route. I had no client base and therefore was never going to have the luxury of paying someone to do my job for me.

Exit Strategy

I basically needed an exit strategy from tree work and needed it soon. My thoughts were that hopefully my body wasn’t entirely done for, and I could bring myself back to better fitness if I wasn’t beasting my body daily. I could probably have managed another 10 years, but by that point what condition would my body have been in?

I had obviously gained experience in web design over the years, but more importantly in the management of web sites, hosting, and all the problems that can throw up. I had also created a few sites for myself from scratch but hadn’t at that point developed anything outside of my own interests. Then in a casual discussion, someone asked me if I could recommend a website designer. To which my response was ‘I might be able to help’. And so that was my first commercial website project taken on in 2016.

This set the ball rolling for my ultimate exit from tree work. My client had been happy with the work I carried out, and I even went on to make an additional site for them within the same time frame. I enjoyed this. It was a new challenge. After 20 years of climbing trees its rare to be faced with a challenge. Every day is physically challenging, but it’s rare to have a real head puzzler. Things do become pretty mundane and run of the mill. I have always had an overactive mind, and this is something that needs to be fed.

I’m sure many reading this are very similar to how I am, its part of what draws us to the work. Unfortunately, I was back to the same hurdle again. Too much work, and not enough time to do it all. I couldn’t pursue a career in website design whilst still out climbing trees! Besides the fact that the energy levels just aren’t there in your 40’s, if you’re designing and managing websites for people, you need to be accessible in case of a site failure…I wasn’t very accessible 70ft up a tree!

Retiring From Tree Surgery

And so I made the decision to hang up my harness at the start of 2018 at the age of 41. It wasn’t the easiest decision to make by any means, but one that I knew had to be done for my own personal health, and long term financial considerations. My speed as a climber was already waning, how much longer could I charge top rates for?

I retired from tree work with one project lined up but was quickly able to get new work on the books directly through Arbtalk and word of mouth. The important thing at this time though was that I suddenly seemed to have all the time in the world to work on the things I had been putting off for so long. I had an existing Arbtalk project on the go that I had started 12 months previously and had literally got nowhere with. Now I had the time to devote to improving Arbtalk as well as building a client base for new website builds. That 12-month Arbtalk project still took me another 9 months to complete, but if I had still been climbing I’m not sure if it would ever have been finished. That project you might know as the Arbtalk Tip Site Directory for Tree Surgeons

Onwards and Upwards

The primary focus here at Arbtalk Media Ltd is building high-quality SEO friendly websites for tree surgeons. With over 22 years in the tree care industry, writing accurate content specifically relating to tree surgery is second nature. Unlike other website designers who might have the skills to write good copy, but not the specific knowledge, our content will be clear and make sense to your customers, as well as make your prying competitors jealous! Already we are building up a decent portfolio of tree surgery websites right here, and you can also read testimonials from some of our happy clients.

18 months later and with more than 30 projects completed I have finally managed to find time to build my own website…the very site you are reading this blog post on in fact!

So will I climb again? Well, I have to admit I sneak out for the odd covert tree slaying but its all the more harder now that I am out of shape. A crane job will always peak my interests though!

 

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