Archive for the ‘Small Business Owners’ Category
Wednesday, September 16th, 2009
According to recent web statistics there are one trillion websites. Keeping this number in mind, how will your website rise to the top and stand out among the masses? Why should or would your website appear on the first page of Google? In other words, what makes YOU special?
Two questions that are most important to your site visitors are:
- 1. Who is your target audience?
- 2. What makes you unique, different or special?
Certainly there are many factors in deciding what makes you special. Here are my top three questions to identify what makes you SPECIAL.
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Tags: competition, effective website
Posted in Attract Your Ideal Clients, Effective Web Sites, Law of attraction, Small Business Owners | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 19th, 2009
I read and process about 150 business emails on a daily basis and look at over 80 websites. Adding any social media activities to this already heavily multitasking type schedule is overwhelming. I feel first and foremost I need to be responding to clients and scheduling projects with our team. I tried delegating this social media aspect to my assistant and that just didn’t work. I think social media is something one personally needs to do. It’s kind of like sending my assistant to a networking meeting – it’s not the same as me being there in person.
I gotta tell ya, this twittering is like texting on steroids. I’m still weighing out the time vs. benefit. Stats show that 60% of people who start on Twitter become Twitter Quitters. The piece I find fascinating is that it can be educational and easy to find resources with Twitter search. The company is growing rapidly and new uses for it are developing all the time. So, we’ll see what transpires in the next few months.
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Tags: internet marketing, marketing ideas, social networking, twitter, Web Marketing, web site marketing, website marketing
Posted in Creative Marketing, Small Business Owners, Web Marketing | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009
There are so many different methods to organize our busy lives. Some people like to use old-fashioned paper calendars, others like iCal, Blackberry, iPhone or Outlook. I decided to spend two hours with Google Calendar and share my experience.
It’s pretty easy and user-friendly. Since I already use Gmail – I installed the Google app so a mini calendar shows up on the left sidebar below my labels. The Quick Add feature allows you to type in something like: 3pm 7/19 Meeting with Client Name, location, phone. It can be typed in any order that makes sense to you. Then Google Calendar automatically places it on that date with a default of 1 hour. If I type in the time frame like 3-5 pm then it blocks out that time on the calendar. I put everything on one calendar – both business and personal. There is the option of creating several calendars though and that may make sense for your activities.
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Tags: Business Strategy, Google Calendar, Small Business, time management
Posted in Entrepreneurs, Small Business Owners | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
Are you a creative type? Me too! Having a creative mind can be both a curse and a gift. With so many ideas and business offerings buzzing inside our heads, we often experience headaches and euphoria simultaneously. We want to tell or show everyone all the many things we do.
Those of us with websites, blogs and ezines may want to showcase lots of products or services with too much text. You’ve seen the websites I’m talking about – too much text, too many calls. The reality is that simpler really is best.
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Tags: Add new tag, effective web design, marketing ideas, Web Marketing, web site marketing, website marketing
Posted in Artists, Effective Web Sites, Small Business Owners, Web Site Design | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
1. Big Red Flag. No website? If the person you are planning to hire doesn’t have a site of his or her own, this is a big red flag. How will they know what works or doesn’t work if they haven’t tested it on their own site? If they are a professional in business they will have a website. Their website is a true reflection of them – study it carefully looking for anything that may indicate “this company looks great!” to “I have some doubts in working with this company”.
2. Listen to me. Can you hear me now? Are they really listening to what you want/need? OR immediately writing out a prescription like a bad doctor based upon what they think you need. If it is the latter – run-Forest-run.
3. Experience. How many years of experience does this person have? How will this benefit you?
4. Resources. How many resources does this person utilize? If they work only with one program or have one resource and derive all information/facts from that one source – probably not in your best interest to hire someone with such limited resources.
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Tags: Business Strategy, internet marketing
Posted in Effective Web Sites, Small Business Owners, Web Site Design | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
How do you like to communicate with potential clients who visit your website?
If you prefer email, here are a few tips:
- Include your email address more than once on your Home Page and several times throughout your site.
- Consider having your email address in a larger font to make it stand out.
- Ask your web person to use an anti-harvesting script on the email address so you won’t get spammed.
- Forget the cute graphic envelopes or postal boxes that say, “Email me”. When the page is printed, the recipient won’t know what your email address is.
- Check your inbox several times a day and respond promptly to all inquiries. If a potential client sends you an email they will expect an immediate response – no later than 24 hours. The quicker you respond, the more likely you are to get the sale. (more…)
Tags: attracting clients, Business Strategy, client communication, email, Small Business, telephone
Posted in Attract Your Ideal Clients, Client Relations, Small Business Owners | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 27th, 2009
Flash, Frames & Blinking Banners – Avoid building an entire site in Flash. Search engines cannot find or read a site built totally in Flash. A good alternative is to create an html site and implement Flash elements inside this type of site. Frames are difficult for users and search engines can’t read sites built in frames. Avoid frames completely! Too many blinking banners, moving text or images can be distracting to the visitor and give the wrong impression. Too much bling is not a good thing for a website.- Poor Content, Too Much or Not Enough – What you say on your site is extremely important. Be brief and get to the point with effective, powerful words. If a visitor has to scroll multiple times to read all the text they and move on. People are typically in a hurry and want the info fast. Have you been to a site with no text and wondered what they were all about? Text on the home page is important for the visitor and for the search engines. Don’t make them guess what’s behind door #1, tell them what you are about so they will want to explore further. (more…)
Tags: effective web design, web site mistakes
Posted in Creative Marketing, Effective Web Sites, Small Business Owners, Web Design Ideas, Web Marketing, Web Site Design | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 13th, 2009
Whenever I do a workshop or speaking engagement I ask the audience, “What search engine do you use for finding sites and information?” I’m often surprised at the responses and almost always learn about one or two search engines that I’ve never heard of before. Google, MSN & Yahoo remain in the top three so I’ll summarize some of the data for those.
Google is preferred by males and Google users are 43 percent more likely to buy online over other Internet users.
MSN is preferred by females and those 55 and over prefer this search engine. MSN users are 48 percent more likely to purchase than other Internet users.
Yahoo! users make up the 18-34-year-old segment and are 31 percent more likely to make online purchases.
As a web marketer how will you use this useful information?
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Tags: Demographics, Google, internet marketing, MSN, search engine, Web Marketing, Yahoo
Posted in Creative Marketing, Small Business Owners, Web Marketing, Web Trends | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
I often hear from weary website owners that they just don’t have the time to market their websites. Thinking about doing this in large chunks of time can be overwhelming. Just the thought of it may discourage you from taking any action at all. So here’s a challenge for each of you. Do you have 5 minutes? Here’s what you can do in 5 minutes:
- Go to any website – just pick one out of the blue. Preferably someone you don’t know. Be brave. Pretend I’m there holding your hand (grin).
- Send the owner a friendly email and compliment him/her on a great site.
- Indicate that you are looking for help. Remember people LOVE to help. Your single question may look like one of these:
- I need your help. I wonder if you could give me one idea for getting more clients in the area of _______?
- Would you mind giving me some advice? I’d like to know some techniques you’ve used to attract your ideal customers.
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Tags: internet marketing, web site marketing
Posted in Creative Marketing, Small Business Owners, Web Marketing | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 1st, 2009
I grew up on a farm in Nebraska and my dad was a diversified farmer. This meant we had cows, pigs, chickens and a variety of crops. With this type of diversity we were always insured of multiple profit centers. If it was a bad year for soybeans then the price of corn may have been higher and carried us through. If hail wiped out an entire crop then we had the beef or pork to rely on.
Every business owner is similar to a farmer. Here are my top 3 analogies.
- Are you putting all your eggs in one basket? In other words, relying on one big client or one method of marketing for all your business income? This is very risky. What if it’s a bad year for soybeans?
- Are you giving away the farm? Do you continually give away free information and unpaid consulting time to help others? This practice cuts into your time and directly impacts the flow of income. People who take advantage of you this way are not ultimately whom you want to work with.
- Are you trying to do everything yourself? This is the biggest mistake entrepreneurs make. They try to feed all the chickens, plant the corn, bale the hay, do the books, work on the website and still spend quality time with the family. It’s impossible to do it all WELL and it’s exhausting. This is the best recipe for burnout and failure that I know of. We can only “do-it-ourselves” with the help from others.
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Tags: Business Strategy, Small Business
Posted in Entrepreneurs, Small Business Owners | No Comments »
