Plymouth is located on coast of England, and therefore the economy has traditionally been maritime, most notably the armed forces. Over twelve thousand people have been employed with the defence sector in Plymouth. Devonport Dockyard is the only naval base in the UK that refits nuclear submarines, and it is estimated that it makes 10% of Plymouth's total income.

Since the beginning of 2008, Britain's businesses and economy has been affected by the biggest recession since the very early 90‘s. Nearly everyone has been hit by it and companies all around the UK have had to cut jobs to try and save the money that they have been losing. However, many small companies have not survived the recession as they could not handle the money losses and have unfortunately had to go into administration. The house prices have fallen by almost 3% in the UK over the past year, and the banks have stopped giving out big loans like they used to. This is proof of the fall in the economy.

Plymouth City Council is helping the residents of Plymouth, through this tough time, by drawing up a £645,833 contract. The contract is to provide free, confidential and professional advice to those who have been seriously affected by the credit crunch. This is all part of the Council's Financial Inclusion Strategy, which they adopted earlier in the year. The key aims of the strategy include:

- Maximising the take up of tax credits and 'in-work' benefits

- Reducing personal debt, child and fuel poverty

- Helping people get back to work

The award of the contract is on top of the Council's recession response package, which includes the development of local credit unions and to provide a mortgage and rent debts adviser. The decision to award the contract was made by Councillor Brookshaw and will come into effect on 1st September 2009.

Spending even a small amount of money can help your business become more popular and gain more customers, which effectively earns your company more money. You can do this by promoting your company on the Internet for a small fee. The best way to do this is to advertise your business with Activ Plymouth, the most comprehensive guide to Plymouth on the Internet.

All it takes is a small sum of money, and this will gain you valuable advertising space on Plymouth's best local community website. Spending this small amount to promote your company on the Internet will make sure that more people see your company, and divert them to your website, which could lead to your company gaining more customers. Activ Plymouth is a local website made for the community and will therefore mean that most of the people that visit the website will be from in and around Plymouth and will potentially boost your reputation with the local residents.

By using Activ Plymouth to promote your company, you are potentially helping to put Plymouth in a better place to fight the recession and this will also help your own business as you will be getting more exposure on the Internet, which means you will be potentially, gaining more customers.