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The importance of having an updated website

September 2nd, 2009 | By Simon In Building Your Business | No Comments »

Now that you have an idea of what type of a website you need to propagate online and offline businesses, here are some strategies that will help your website convert from its inception.

You’ll have probably prepared a budget for the work that you want to be done to your website, and this may include getting some targeted pay-per-click ads – possibly targeting your local region for example. Being ranked highly in the search engines for “plumber in Bristol” for example, could provide you with a fair amount of traffic each month.

Your site should also have a “call to action” for your visitors, as well as be structured, optimized and marketed correctly such that your site turns up during various searches, as I previously touched on.
The money is in the list!

This is a phrase that you’ll hear regularly in internet marketing circles, but what exactly does it mean?
Well, when I mentioned having a call to action on your site, one option could be to giveaway a free newsletter or offer a discount of an initial order – and in return all the visitor to your site has to do is enter their name and email address on your site.

These details will then be kept in a database for your use in the future, and so you could send them an email in the future with details of a promotion, new product launch or up and coming sale, and they may well feel compelled to take action on that.

If you had a database of 500 prospects like this, you could have a potential goldmine available to you, and this is what “the money is in the list” means.

How you can lose customers

You must also remember that the an important goal of an offline or online business is to provide convenience to your customers no matter if they are doing business with you or if they just need some answers. So ensure your customers receive prompt service and replies when they contact you, for better prospects of return customers.

I have to mention something very important now. No matter how extensive your marketing campaign is, and no matter how experienced your SEO professional is, the traffic you generate to your website will be of no use at all if you don’t spend the time to update your website. The information must be up to date and relevant – thus adding further credibility to your business.

If you have visitors to your site and they find out that your special deals are outdated by six months, and that you don’t sell more than half of the items listed on your website, you can never expect these visitors to convert into customers. Instead, you will have to spend, or rather waste time answering phone calls from annoyed customers, and sometimes even smooth ruffled feathers.

You can easily and inexpensively have someone to update your website on a regular basis, so that its simply a case of letting them know what changes are to be made.

I’ll be continuing the theme of marketing your business with the help of an online presence, so stay tuned for more strategies in the coming days.

Tips for choosing search engine friendly merchandising

August 26th, 2009 | By Simon In Building Your Business, Traffic Generation | No Comments »

Now that you know the importance of using online marketing for both offline and online businesses, I thought it important to give you a few pointers about choosing and using the right search engine friendly merchandising in your website.

The first thing you have to remember if you wish to generate sales from your website is to ensure that your products get listed in your website in a search engine user-friendly manner.

Ensure easy navigation

This means that the navigation in your website should be easy, where each of the products that you have to sell has to have its individual page. It would be better if you included tabs leading to these pages in your home page. This makes it easier and faster for visitors, and probable customers to reach your products.

Not only do you have to provide easy access to your products, you also have to make sure that the checkout process of your website is a really easy and smooth one where the customer can check out with as little input as possible.

It is better to include emails or notices in your site that just instructs the buyer to mail an email to a third person, with which the checkout process is taken care of. Though this addition to a site costs more, in the long run, you find it much easier to add and remove products from the site. This will in turn make it easier for you to update the products you have to offer on the site.

After implementing all these tips to your website, I have to remind you that not all websites will start converting visitors into customers immediately on going live. It is not however impossible as it is quite possible with some careful preparation and great marketing plans which will be mentioned in the next post.

More integrated offline and online marketing strategies for your business

August 12th, 2009 | By Simon In Building Your Business | No Comments »

In my previous blog post, I mentioned a few essential online and offline marketing strategies that you could use to improve your business.

When you use both offline and online marketing techniques, you could roll out both campaigns together or have a system of using an offline campaign first, followed by an online one. The absolute key and something I preach about a lot is to test – test which works best and then try and beat it next time.

Tease your customers

This is best done by choosing a specific date for the launch of your campaign. Once you have set the date, you should however work at ensuring that everything is ready in both marketing techniques so that you will be able to launch your campaign on the selected date.

A unique and effective means of integrating your marketing efforts is to tease your customers about any promotion you are organizing in your business. You can do this by giving your potential customers details of your campaign in bite size pieces, and this should lead your customers to your site, where they will be able to get more information about your promotion.

Print special coupons

Another effective offline marketing technique to get your visitor to visit your website for more details and deals is to offer special coupons that they can redeem. These coupons should offer special web-only deals, and is a great means of getting people interested in your website, and at the same time, improve your sales.
By taking a look at this type of integrated marketing, you should be able to get the most out of all your advertising campaigns.

Strategies for integrating offline and online marketing for your business

August 5th, 2009 | By Simon In Building Your Business | No Comments »

No matter how old or new your business is, you should always consider the benefits of  both online or offline marketing in your business. This is because whether you know it or not, online businesses can benefit from traditional, offline marketing techniques and brick and mortar stores are finding more and more that the internet is extremely beneficial in marketing their business.

In this post I will reveal some easy to integrate offline and online marketing techniques that should enable you to get even better returns from your business.

The main thing you have to keep in mind is to have both these marketing techniques as they can work together to promote your business, as they compliment each other. You could include your URL in all your promotional products like pens, stationary, business cards or even diaries.

Make sure you have a professional looking website

You should also include it in any offline ads that you run so that people who see you in the local newspaper etc will decide to pay a visit to your website. This thus gives them an additional means of contacting you and even doing business with you.

As you will be drawing visitors to your website, I have to remind you that you ensure that your website looks professional and has a suitable call to action. This is because if visitors come to your site, and don’t find what they are actually looking for, it is very likely that they will leave your site, not to return to it again.

Online and offline marketing should compliment each other.

If you are not adept at designing the perfect website, you can hire a professional such as myself to design your website for you. Just make sure all the information you place in your website is up to date, easy to find and compliments your offline marketing efforts.

This is because you wouldn’t want one form of marketing falling behind the other. This means that if you send out promotional cards to your clients about the sale you intend to have in your store, your website should also display the same promotion. If it does not, you will only end up with unhappy and confused customers.

Perseverance is the secret to a successful business

July 15th, 2009 | By Simon In Building Your Business | No Comments »

The secret to a successful business lies in first being clear about what you want. It is only if you have a clear vision of your business that will you be able to work at reaching this ideal.
So with this said, you have to create a plan to reach this business goal.

This plan could be your budget, your investment, the amount of time you will spend in your business and of course, how you intend to reach your goal. To do this, you will have to find a means of evaluating, and improving your business beliefs.

This means that you have to learn to get rid of those sabotaging traits like procrastination and fear that come in the way of your business. Once you do this, you start maintaining patience and focus in reaching your business goals.

When was the last time you felt like giving up?

No matter how much patience you exercise to reach these business goals, perseverance is the principal deciding factor for breaking and moving ahead in your business. Many a time, while working at your business, you may find a few obstacles on your path that makes you feel like giving up.

This may happen not once, but quite a few times where you are most likely to think and feel that you should wind up as you are facing a losing battle. You feel like giving up, which is a sign of failure. You could just be moments away from success however.

However instead of giving up, you have to stop and think what happens if you continued with your business. This continuation and the vision you see is called perseverance which means being able to persist in your work, despite difficulties.

The importance of your goal determines your perseverance

This persistence does not have to exist till you run into an obstacle, till things become easier or only till you feel like persisting. Instead, it means you have to work at moving ahead no matter what happens in your business. You have to keep on trying to reach your business goals, no matter how difficult the road may be.

The amount of perseverance you need in your business depends mainly on how important it is for you to reach your business target. For most of you, I am guessing it is very important, as it is your livelihood, and so persistence and determination are key.

Given this fact, you will definitely work very hard at reaching your goals, no matter what you encounter. So besides all the basic fundamentals required to reach your business target like hard work, money and a target, without any perseverance, you will not have a successful business.

How to build your business by using your competitors

July 9th, 2009 | By Simon In Building Your Business | No Comments »

Your competitor is the last person that you would normally approach for help in expanding your business, right? However I have to say that at times, their help can prove to be very effective in building and expanding your business. I encourage you to read on to find out how.

Work for a mutual benefit instead of competition

One way that you could combine resources and leverage your time would be to work with other businesses. You can even combine your resources with competitors, so that instead of competing with each other, you both receive a mutual benefit.

Of course, if they are a direct competitor, selling exactly what you are selling and nothing else then this could be a problem, however if they’re selling related products then it could be a really profitable partnership.

This is basically called a joint venture where you can introduce each other to each other’s customers, combine both of your skills to create a much better service or product or also share investments and promotional costs of the business, so that you can also share the profits that you gain through the joint venture.

This is something that is possibly more popular online than it is offline, however do not under estimate the power and potential of this. Getting out there and speaking to your neighbouring or fellow businessmen could yield huge benefits for you.

Borrow experience when required

I also suggest that if you are thinking of working in an area where you don’t actually have the experience or expertise in the field, that you ‘borrow’ experience and exposure by associating yourself with someone who is an expert in the field.

This means you will have to invite the said person to participate in your endeavors, perhaps interview them to get their ideas and expert advice on the topic or to perhaps get their endorsement.
Many a time, an expert’s endorsement is more than enough to give you the push you are looking for in starting, and moving ahead in your business.

Tips for building partnerships with others for better business

July 4th, 2009 | By Simon In Building Your Business | No Comments »

As a businessperson, one of the first things that many people believe they should do is to build your reputation and presence. I would agree with this, however it is not necessarily essential.
One way that you can do this, is to not do everything yourself and indeed, not to necessarily work alone. So what do I mean by this?
One thing that many business owners overlook is working with others. Typically many like to do things themselves rather than work alone, as they feel that it means that they’re not really succeeding if they involve others.
Remember that the more you involve others in your business, the more mutual benefit you gain for a better chance of success. And here’s a word that you will hear me use an awful lot and I think it’s a very important aspect of running your own business…
Leverage.
Involving others, whether its contracted work or employees gives you leverage. There are only 24 hours in a day and so time is such a precious commodity. Money however, can be earned back over time.
Here are some ideas for building powerful relationships in your business.
Outsource work
Outsourcing is a very important factor in many businesses. This is because as an expert, I don’t suggest you working in fields other than your field of expertise. On the other hand, it is better to outsource tasks to people who are experts in these fields.
Its also an idea to outsource some of the more mundane tasks too, as they can often be done with minimal investment on your part.
So if you are not that good a writer, it is better to hire someone to write your website content instead of you trying to write content.
Networking both online and offline is a great means of connecting with other people. There are so many social networking sites available online these days (such as FaceBook, MySpace and Orkut) that you will soon have a large web of acquaintances.
Also, do not overlook the power of offline events such as Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club and other such regular meetings – they’re all effective for networking.
Use the best networking of both worlds
Similarly, friends, family and professional acquaintances in the offline world form your outside networking links. Once you learn to use and mix both forms of networking, you will get the best contacts of both worlds that will prove beneficial to you and your business in more ways than one.
I have also found that working in groups proves to be successful in building your business. These groups are often called mastermind groups and they generally consist of a small group of people who meet on a periodical basis.
They meet either in person, via the internet or by telephone so that they can discuss ideas and at the same time, give one another motivation and encouragement to prosper in their individual businesses.
Keep a look out next week where I’ll reveal how to gain more businesses by using your competitors. Yes, you read that correctly, your competitors.

Why you have to use autoresponders

June 18th, 2009 | By Simon In Building Your Business, List Building, Useful Software or Tools | No Comments »

My previous blog entry explained the advantage and necessity of having an autoresponder on your business website.

You’ll now know that they are a means of collecting names and email addresses in order to create a list or lists that you can then keep in contact with, and market to.

What I am going to go through today is what you can do with the names that you have collected, in order to make your business even more profitable than it currently is.

There are basically two ways of sending emails to your prospects and customers using an autoresponder; and these are called ‘broadcast’ and ‘follow-up’.

The broadcast option is a bit like sending a normal email. You write the email that you want to send – it may be about an upcoming event regarding your business, perhaps a sale or a promotion that you are looking to run.

You only have to write the message once and then it can be sent once to all the people subscribed to your list.You can then relax as the autoresponder sends the email as per your instructions. This is often the preferred method of sending email messages when you have to send time sensitive information like current promotions and upcoming events.

Send personalized messages

In the case of follow-up emails, you have to create one or a series of messages as a sequence within your autoresponder. You could have the messages programmed to be sent every day, every other day or once a week – its entirely up to you.

To make the message look more personal, you can include a few tags or variables in the autoresponder. One tag can be programmed to include the actual name of the person, and you could also use a tag for your signature too.

So the difference with a follow up message is that it is often pre-written, and more commonly it entails a series of emails rather than just one or two. This is designed to gain rapport with the people on your list so that they begin to see you as a trusted figure, and therefore they’ll be more inclined to do business with you.

How to use an autoresponder in your business

June 12th, 2009 | By Simon In Building Your Business, Traffic Generation, Useful Software or Tools | No Comments »

One of the perhaps the most important tools used in an internet-based business, whether it’s for a pure internet-only business, brick and mortar business or e-commerce site, is what is called an autoresponder.

An autoresponder is basically a piece of software that collects the contact details of prospects and website visitors for you. It also enables you to preload emails, newsletters and other communications so that you can keep in contact with the contacts that you have in your database.And if you have a special launch planned, a promotion on a particular product or a sale planned, then you can send an email to your entire list of prospects quickly and easily by using an autoresponder on your site.

There are several products on the market that are considered the best by many experts, names such as Aweber, Autoresponse Plus, Get Response and Email Aces to name but a few.

My personal favourite is Aweber, and you can visit their site here for more details. I use them because their service is easy to use, effective and renowned in the industry plus, you can track who opens the emails that you send and a host of other crucial data that is so very useful as a business owner.

Collecting names is SO important

To use an autoresponder to help you with your business, you need to have a little form on your home page that will help you capture names and email addresses from visitors. This is both very easy to do and extremely effective as a marketing tool.

The data that is collected in this form is automatically sent to the autoresponder, and so there is very little work for you to do, which is the beauty of this software.

The autoresponder then sends out a confirmation message (that you will have already pre-written) to visitors, welcoming them to your site and perhaps explaining a little bit about the business and how it could benefit your customers.

It is better to write your own message as it is more personal, and makes it more friendly and easier to be related to your website.

Although this sounds like quiet a basic thing to do (capturing the email addresses of prospective customers), do not underestimate how powerful this is, as most businesses I see do not even think of doing this.

Now that you have learned a little bit about the advantages of using an autoresponder in your online business, my next blog post will give you more details and elaborate a little more with some juicy tactics that you start using immediately.

Tips for getting started in your business

June 5th, 2009 | By Simon In Building Your Business, Getting Started | No Comments »

To many people, starting and running a business is something that they’ve always dreamed of doing, and so proves to be far more productive and satisfying than working under another person.

So if you are one of these people, you may find the following advice will help you with getting started with your business.

One of the most important things to try and do is to do the things that you love doing and get someone else (outsource) to do the things that you’re not so keen on.

As you will be spending lots of time and energy on your business, it has to be something you are really interested in doing. Now, I realize that in the beginning, it is not always easy to be able to outsource, and naturally you do end up doing a lot of the work yourself.

If this is the case, then you need to try and get to a point, as quickly as possible, where you can concentrate on the areas of your business that you enjoy, and have someone else do the rest.

Another piece of advice is that if you can, you may want to start a business while you are still earning from your ‘day job’. This is because you never know when your business will be earning money for you and it takes a little financial pressure of you.

If you are employed while getting started on your business, you are sure of having money in your pocket when you are in the start-up stage of your business.

Have a support system when you start a business

Though you may venture into starting a business on your own, it is always advised to start a business with a support system, and not to do it alone. Have a family member or friend as a partner for getting ideas and for listening to your ideas and views on the business.

Alternatively, a better option is to find someone who can be your mentor, as experienced, impartial guidance is always better for a business.

Before you actually start up a business, it may also be an idea to create a network. You will need clients and customers for your business to flourish; and it is through networking that you manage to make contacts to sell or give away your products and services.

These contacts may be through friends and family, as this a powerful way to get trusted clients, as they will have been recommended by people. This always carries more weight than someone off the street who does not know you.

Writing a business plan can also help to ensure that your business heads in the right direction. Without a business plan, you may end up spending your time and money on starting a business that will in no way at all end up as a success.

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