The 301 redirect is a good way to improve your SEO
When you buy a domain, there are two possible addresses that anyone could type in or link too, one with a prefix and one without. For example:
http://yourdomainname.co.uk
or
http://www.yourdomainname.co.uk
If a website is linking to the address without the prefix, then you may not be benefiting from the SEO. To consolidate all your links under one address, you can create an htaccess file in notepad and add this code:
Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine on
rewritecond %{http_host} ^yourdomainname.co.uk [nc]
rewriterule ^(.*)$ http://www. yourdomainname.co.uk/$1 [r=301,nc]
Upload the htaccess file to the top level of your FTP and job done!