Small Business Tips: Online Backup: Do I want this?

Posted on October 1st, 2008, 06:10 am
Filed Under (Biz Start Up) by George Bardissi

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Many people are starting to discover the phenomenon of online backup. What is it? How does it work? Is it secure? How much does it cost? Let’s dive into this from the top down.

Data storage, over the past few years, has seriously come down in cost. Many companies have since invested in creating data centers with massive storage capacity and with this capacity they offer companies around the world, that have a high speed internet connection,  the ability to use this storage space for secure off-site data backup. Is there an upside to this or does this make sense for my company? Many people forget that a company is only as good as its people and its information. This is why keeping data secure and backed up are two of the most crucial parts of information technology security as we know it today.

A traditional backup method, still in use, over the past several years, has been the tape backup solution. Companies would have a set of tapes and make sure at least one was kept off-site at someone’s house, out of the usual tape backup rotation. This is still a method in regular use today. However, there are many more methods in the mix today such as NAS (network attached storage), external hard drive backup and on-line backup just to mention a few. Keep in mind, there are many more types of back up methods, with others being created every day. Since online and off site backup has gained great popularity, it has become pretty inexpensive for what you get and gives your company an extra layer of data backup redundancy. Because there are an incredible number of data backup providers our limited column space won’t permit us to list them all and their cost factors. Instead, I would suggest that you Google data backup companies in your area.

Be assured you will get a very extensive list to choose from and compare prices on. Do I really need more than one data backup system? Well consider this, if for some reason your server were to crash or your data were to become corrupted causing your on-site data backup solution to fail, having a second and third backup method would be a way of making sure your data is protected. I caution against strictly using just one method of backup due to the fact that if that backup fails you are literally up the creek.

Also, other things to keep in mind are, if your internet connection fails then your on-line backup won’t work. Yes, on-line backup is secure because the data is encrypted before it is transferred over the internet and then kept secure in the data center where it is held. Retrieving data from the on-line storage software is very easy and does not require cumbersome software packages to get files back after data loss. If you use personal finance software such as Quicken, or Microsoft Money and use the online file backup for your data file they use this same technology as well. You may also see that manufactures are starting to offer one year free of charge on-line data backup with your PC purchase.

Of course, you would have to begin paying after the trial period. As time goes on and the cost of data storage continues to go down you will see off-site / on-line data backup and storage continue to surface in many areas and become very useful when, not if, something does go wrong. Remember, with information technology, it is a safe bet that something will, on occasion, go wrong. The question then becomes, “Will you be ready for it, when it happens?”

George Bardissi is the President and Owner of  Bardissi Enterprises, a Managed Information Technology solutions company, providing IT services to small and medium sized businesses.

Small Business Tips: How To Choose an Internet Service Provider

Posted on September 25th, 2008, 10:09 am
Filed Under (Biz Start Up, Interactive) by George Bardissi

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In today’s world, the internet is just as important as electricity, heat, AC, food, and water when it comes to running any kind of business. The size of your business ultimately affects how you shop for an ISP (Internet Service Provider). Now keep in mind that there are several different kinds, sizes, and shapes of businesses so I am going to have to keep this topic broad. Let’s break our business categories into 3 different choices, small, medium and large businesses.

The first option to review is small business which could be run out of an office or a home office. If you are running a home-based business, as I know many people are today, you are probably running under your home internet connection, which most of the time is either a cable or DSL connection to the internet.

Of course you have many options with DSL carriers just like you would with home telephone service. Cable providers are usually limited to your particular municipalities’ cable franchise agreement. One more option I forgot to add is the recent option of Verizon FIOS. Either one of these options are no problem for a home based business. If you are running dial up please give up on fighting with your computer because it isn’t going to get any better. Pay the extra few dollars a month and save yourself a lot of hassle and aggravation. If you are running a small or medium business but have an office outside of your home then you must get the business upgrades that are offered by your Cable, DSL, or FIOS providers.

Keep in mind that the business rates for any one of these options are more expensive than your home options due to the fact that the internet providers usually have a different internet connection system for business clients as well as the option to add STATIC IP addresses for server or remote access needs. When I say the word STATIC, I mean an internet address that does not ever change. You can buy these IP addresses usually for five ($5.00) or more dollars per address on top of your internet fees.

For the medium size businesses and large companies you have all of the above options for small and medium business but you can now add T1, T3, and so on. These services are offered through a phone company such as Verizon, Paetec, Cavalier, AT&T and the list on this could go on for days.

What is the advantage when going with one of the higher end options like T1, T3, and beyond? Well, it would be that you have a dedicated connection to the internet and you are not sharing your internet line with anyone else that may be nearby as well as steady bandwidth rates. These higher end options have been the standard for years in the industry but are starting to lose out to the more inexpensive options listed below.

Now why is this an important decision if you are a business? Usually when you chose an ISP you are married to them like you would be in a cell phone contract. Questions to ask when looking for an ISP: What is your turn around time from when I sign to when your service will be installed? Do I need to run any lines or are you, the ISP, responsible for this? How do I contact support and what is the response time if there would be an issue? What is the cancellation fee if I chose not to continue service before my contract is over? Is there any setup or installation fees? What should I be expecting in terms of my speed or bandwidth?

Your IT department or person, or consultant should help you evaluate how much bandwidth or speed your business requires based on what kind of equipment you are running in your office or location. I personally have seen a lot of companies drop off of the more expensive solutions such as T1 for internet because the cost is a lot higher and the speed is a lot lower. For example, T1 speed will get maximum 1.5 MB bandwidth up and down at somewhere between $350.00 to $600.00 per month depending on your provider.

If a company was faced with the above option and a cable, FIOS, or DSL connection at 30 - 10 MB down and 1 - 2.5 MB up for around $99.99 a month to $149.99 a month you can see the cost savings and speed upgrade you would receive by going the other direction.

Even if the speeds on cable, FIOS, or DSL are not guaranteed how badly could the speed be cut down? Even if it were to be a bad day and your speed would be cut by half it still would not come close to the 1.5 MB speed a T1 provides, for the most part. The only thing that could be a determining issue is the up-time or reliability of cable, FIOS, or DSL versus a dedicated line such as a T1. There would probably be a 2 to 1 odds of your connection going down when you go to one of the 3 options to T1, T3, and up. So what would you do for more mission critical based companies that can’t afford to be down at all not even for a few hours? Some companies in that situation would have two separate internet connections in the event one would go down the other one would be available so that the company would not be down.

This should get the conversation started on this topic. There are other things that I didn’t have enough space to discuss however I touched on most of the major points and hopefully this should give you a good handle on what you are looking at in terms of an internet provider and what the potential price versus speed options are for you out there. Keep your eyes open however because within the next 24-36 months you will see a major increase in speed and bandwidth options that will be available to you!

George Bardissi is the President and Owner of  Bardissi Enterprises, a Managed Information Technology solutions company, providing IT services to small and medium sized businesses.

Build it, But They Won’t Come:Building Good Content For Your Website: Part II of III

Posted on September 19th, 2008, 09:09 am
Filed Under (Biz Start Up, Interactive) by Joe Witte

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You must be so relieved. You FINALLY have a website. It looks hip. You’re getting lots of complements and the content that took your spouse over a year to write is pretty good. So why isn’t your phone ringing? Well, first of all, your website is NOT the field of dreams. Remember the movie where the ghost whispers, “Build it, they will come.” A better title for your website would be “Build it, and it will get lost amongst 2 billion other websites.” But don’t get frustrated, because getting targeted traffic to your website may not be as overwhelming (or expensive) as you might think. But it does take some time and discipline.

So, what can you do? Well, one of the most important factors in achieving rankings naturally (verses purchasing pay per click ads) in Google, Yahoo! and MSN.com, is the content you have on your website. Now don’t get defensive. I know that your spouse worked very hard on your content, and it’s written at a college graduate level, but it may not have the keyword density necessary to get the attention of Google. Don’t know what keyword density is? Read on.

What is SEO, or Search Engine Optimization? It’s the action of manipulating your website through your content, linking with other websites, and basic html coding techniques in order to achieve higher rankings in search engines.

Well written, SEO friendly content can do great things. After all, if someone conducts a search for a specific keyword, and that keyword is not on your website, the odds are slim that your website will appear in the search engine results.

Now, when it comes to placing the content on your website, DO NOT put the text in flash, and don’t embed it in an image (like a Gif or Jpg)- this is critical. Otherwise, the search engines can’t read it.

Now, with all this techie/SEO talk, don’t forget the basic rules of writing professional, enticing content for your audience. Here are a couple of basic writing tips that are far too often ignored:

• Capture the user’s attention! Get to the point. The readers should know in title or the first two sentences what your company does and the benefits of your service.
• Consider your target audience, and write in a way that will make sense to them (avoid jargon; it’s ok to be funny, unless you are a mortician or engineer or the like).    Mention the benefits of your products and services, not just the features.
• Use spell check! You can quickly lose credibility with poor grammar or spelling.
• Limit your copy to 2 or 3 paragraphs per page. If the user has to scroll down too far, you’ll lose them.

However, SEO writing adds a new twist to traditional business writing. You’ll need to incorporate the key words that someone would typically type in when searching for your business online. For example, let’s say you own a moving company, some primary keywords that someone would search for would be: movers, moving company, residential movers, Pennsylvania movers, Philadelphia moving company, expert movers, etc. Then, take these keywords and plug them in to Google’s Keyword Research Tool at  https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal . This will help develop an extensive keyword list. From this extensive list, pick the words that fit your business, and that you can realistically get ranked on. (For example, if you are local moving company based out of Philadelphia, don’t expect to get ranked for the keyword “movers” after rewriting your content. Focus on less competitive, and more targeted keywords such as “Philadelphia movers”, or “Philadelphia moving company” with an emphasis on surrounding towns and counties and “long tail keywords”).

However, SEO writing adds a new twist to traditional business writing. You’ll need to incorporate the key words that someone would typically type in when searching for your business online.  For example, let’s say you own a moving company, some primary keywords that someone would search for would be: movers, moving company, residential movers, Pennsylvania movers, Philadelphia moving company, expert movers, etc. Then, take these keywords and plug them in to Google’s Keyword Research Tool at https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal . This will help develop an extensive keyword list.  From this extensive list, pick the words that fit your business, and that you can realistically get ranked on. (For example, if you are local moving company based out of Philadelphia, don’t expect to get ranked for the keyword “movers” after rewriting your content. Focus on less competitive, and more targeted keywords such as “Philadelphia movers”, or “Philadelphia moving company” with an emphasis on surrounding towns and counties and “long tail keywords”).

Now it’s time to integrate these primary keywords in to your content. A simple rule is to use the primary keywords around 3 to 5 times throughout your text. The number of times keywords are used through the text is called “keyword density”.  Over use of keywords is a flag to Google and you can actually get penalized.  As you write, be descriptive, and do your best to be natural. Ensure that the primary keywords appear early and often and include them in your titles.  Also be sure to hyperlink some of the keywords to the other pages on your website. The engines like this for whatever reason. Now, once you’re done, launch this page right away so that the search engine “spiders” can pick up the new keywords. Don’t worry about “submitting” your page our website to search engines; they will pick it up naturally.  After your new home page is launched, start working on the rest of your website. Try to add an article or white page every week or month. It may take months, but yes, “they will come” – and buy, hopefully.

Joe Witte is a partner at Logo Design Guru and WebbyGuru, and has successfully started 3 small businesses including CentricSource and Travel Ad Network.

Using Social Networking to Promote Your Business

Posted on September 12th, 2008, 11:09 am
Filed Under (Biz Start Up, Branding, Interactive) by Brad C

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In a conversation with a musician the other day I was posed a hypothetical question that made my mouth drop open: “so the internet is where things are moving, huh?”  Shocked, I politely declared that this is the year 2008 and the internet has been “where things are moving” since before the freak-out of the Y2K end-of-the-world hilariousness.

Obviously, taking your business to “where things are moving” starts with some kind of company site.  The question is - How do you use this site?  Or, even more pressing, How do you leverage the vastness of the web to bring people back to your valuable little corner?

Whist there are a myriad of different strategies and this topic has been discussed on numerous blogs in much depth, let’s close in on leveraging Social Networking.  I don’t think the argument needs to be made for interaction within these communities, but just in case, Christopher Carfi, an expert at building trust with the customer explained:

“Deceptively simple, online social networks contain great power. They change the online space from one of static web pages and stale marketing messages to a live, vibrant  network of connected individuals who share their abilities, expertise and interests.”

Originally posted on The Social Customer Manifesto

Heads up: ‘Social Networking’ is the big broad general term.  However, there are distinct differences between social networks, social bookmarking, social news, social media, blogs, and micro-blogging sites. (I know, that’s a lot!  More on these later.)

GETTING STARTED:

Before you or your employees unleash your efforts and dive headfirst into the “social sphere” you need to set some boundaries and define a few things:

WHO YOU ARE:

• Know the image you are projecting (literally and metaphorically).
• Come up with a slogan or catch phrase and stick to it.
• If you don’t own a URL yet, make sure you get one before you start your campaign so you can have everyone spreading the exact same links

Realize that you are climbing the “branding hill”.  Consistency is key!

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE:

OK, here is where you’ll need to understand the difference between all the ‘socials’ involved in Social Networking.  Here’s a brief glimpse at each:

• Social Networks: like MySpace or Facebook. Meet friends and show the world who you are.
• Social Bookmarking: like Magnolia or Del.icio.us (or related recommendation system Stumble Upon),share your bookmarks with your friends and find what they like.
• Social News: like Digg or Reddit. Submit any type of content to be voted upon by other users.
• Social Media: like YouTube or Flickr. Share your videos or pictures and comment on others.
• Blogs: like Mashable (on social networking) or Technorati (on technology). Keep people informed by writing a post or article. Include visuals. Best online source for writing blogs is Skellie.
• Micro Blogging: like Twitter or Tumblr. Let people know what you’re doing, what you’re interested in, or whatever - sort of like an “away message” on instant messenger.

How do you know which ones to target?  It all depends on you and your business.  If your product is music, like mine, then you probably won’t be spending much time on a business social network like LinkedIn Instead you might use one like ShareNow.com - the creators of Lifestyle Social Networking (my current employer) where you can participate in different communities based on common interests.

INTERACTION:

You are you - so maintain your you-ness!  People don’t want a generic response, pretty sure they never did.  They are done with corporate emails and packaged statements.

While it may be time consuming to actually communicate with people, Aaron Uhrmacher at Mashable tells us that “Social media platforms help facilitate conversations between individuals, not companies” - you are absolutely relished by your consumers.

Your goal is to establish a relationship here.  You represent a company or product, but because you are still you people will take the time to listen.  You need their trust or you will be written off to the spam pile.  Once you’re in that pile it’s over.

The type of relationship you are looking to forge will give you an idea of what medium you will use to communicate (which will, in turn, shed light on the appropriate people within your business who should do the communicating.)  Should you be putting up funny video responses to spread virally?  Creating a fascinating blog?  Running contests and promoting them with micro-blogging?  Maybe you build a widget that can be embedded across the net… or eventually all of the above!

Don’t forget - be open and honest about who you are and what you do!  Otherwise you will be found out.  It’s inevitable!

PURPOSE:

Keep the bigger picture in mind!  Your only investment here is time, but the fact remains that time is limited.  Find the balance between infiltrating the entire internet to splash your link everywhere and only getting to know a select crowd on one or two communities.  Maybe you split your task into a job for two or three people.

Using Social Networking to promote your business puts you directly in touch with your consumers.  Have fun with it!

Brad C. writes the Official Blog for ShareNow.com - the LifeStyle Social Networking community and spends most of his waking hours either riding his motorcycle or performing around Los Angeles

Do Something, ANYTHING!:Basic Internet Strategies for Local Businesses: Part I of III

Posted on August 25th, 2008, 06:08 am
Filed Under (Biz Start Up, Graphic Design) by Joe Witte

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Listen up folks, newspapers are piling up unread on your kitchen floor, and yellow pages are best served as a booster for your 2 year old at the dinner table. So how are your customers going to find your local business? Well, most of your prospects are spending their time nuzzling their laptop in front of the boob tube watching the Olympics (is synchronized swimming really a sport- c’mon!). And in between reading blogs on albino sea horses, people might actually be searching the internet for YOUR services. My question for you is, if someone goes to Google and looks for your service, what will they find? Do you have a website for people to find before we can zero in on how they can find your website? Is your website professional or did your 16 year old cousin create it 5 years ago? If you are ready to enter the new millennium with a decent website, start creating a list of what you want your website to do, which will play a critical role in choosing the right vendor for you.

Here are some questions to ask yourself when analyzing what you want your website to do for you:

• Do you need someone to write the content for you, or can you write it yourself? (If you’re busy, and have the money, hire someone who can write in an SEO format for you. Check out www.WebsiteText.com).
• How many pages will you need? Do you plan on adding any pages in the future?
• What’s the purpose of your website? Informational/Credibility? Sell a product? Drive leads?
• Are you selling lots of products? If you want e-commerce or a shopping cart, check out www.ProStores.com - it’s an eBay product and they have every feature you can imagine for a low monthly rate (starting at around $20 a month). In addition, you can get a custom design, or template if you require it from www.ProStoresTemplates.com .
• What sort of functionality do you need? Do you need a calendar function to show events? Do you need a database to store and collect names or businesses? What do you want the database to do? Will you need to change the text on your sites on your website regularly (this will require a Content Management System or a “CMS”)?
• What do you want your website to look like? (Hint: check out the leaders in your industry and your favorite websites for ideas).

Once you’ve mapped out how your site is going to function, and what it will look like, you will get a better feel for who can meet your needs based on pricing, and area of expertise. You may be surprised to find that creating a quality website may not be as expensive as you think.

Where can you find a vendor? Go to Google, type in “website design” or “‘your city’ web design” if you want to find someone local.  If you know someone who has a nice web site, ask them who designed it or check with your local Chamber of Commerce. Whatever you do, try to find 3 vendors and narrow the field from there.

Next, think about what your budget is, and how you want to pay for your site. For example, do you want to pay a monthly fee and have your design firm on a retainer? The advantage to this is a lower initial cost, but you’ll probably end up paying a lot more in the long run. Also, if you do go this route, the monthly fee should include hosting and maintenance.  The alternative is to pay a flat fee for your website upon its completion, and own the site outright. The only ongoing fees should be your hosting fees (GoDaddy charges around $10 per year) and your domain registration (very cheap), and if you decide you need “maintenance” or an outsourced version of a “webmaster”. This will hit your pocket a little harder earlier, but in the long run, it’s less expensive. Always try to negotiate a ½ upfront payment, and ½ of the payment upon completion. This incentivizes the designer to get the job done in order to get the 2^nd half of their payment.

Web designers can come in all kinds of forms: freelancers, internet based companies, interactive agencies and “do it yourself” web programs.  For most small companies, the first or second option is probably the best fit, as interactive agencies are usually very expensive (but provide a great service) and if you could “do it yourself”- you probably wouldn’t be reading this article.  I would certainly recommend avoiding a “per hour” charge, and try to negotiate a total cost on the project. Nothing is more maddening than watching the clock when your web designer is talking about their kids’ soccer game and wondering if you are being charged for it (we reserve that privilege for our attorney’s fees). However, make sure your specifications and requirements are clear, because any good vendor is going to have to charge extra if you are one of those neurotic people that change your mind ten times half way through the project.

Ultimately, I think you can expect to pay anywhere from $600 to $3000, depending on who’s writing the content and if it’s a custom design (verses a template, which is a “reused” design).  If you can’t afford all the bells and whistles that you want to add at this stage, let your designer/developer know what you may want in the future so they can easily be added without too much trouble or having to redesign the site.

This sounds like a lot, but really, it’s just as easy as rewriting your resume and applying for jobs on Monster, which you can count on doing if you don’t get that darn website up!

Joe Witte is a partner at Logo Design Guru and WebbyGuru, and has successfully started 3 small businesses including CentricSource and Travel Ad Network.

Get Out! From Behind Your Desk: How to make the best use of tradeshows

Posted on August 13th, 2008, 03:08 pm
Filed Under (Biz Start Up, Branding) by Joe Witte

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Let’s face it-time management is every business owner’s greatest challenge. Picture it now: you are all set to make some calls to potential partners, then a frustrated customer calls, or an employee calls in sick, or someone’s computer breaks, or someone’s dog pees in your office (I swear this happened to a client).

All of this will grab your attention and require you to take action (especially the last, can you say “Oxi Clean?”). But, are they more important than what is at hand? After all, if your objective is to grow your business from $500,000 in sales to $5,000,000, you won’t do it by going through the same routine day in and day out. At some stage, you’ll need to land a “bigger fish.” The only way to land a big fish is to set aside time each week to prospect, network, and develop relationships with solid prospects that can have a major impact on your company.

One great way to achieve this is to exhibit at targeted tradeshows, and you’ll be able to see the country while you are at it.

I’m going to focus on the business development aspect of tradeshows rather than the educational perspective, which can help you find key vendors and keep you abreast of industry changes. As most small businesses are on a tight budget, I usually recommend visiting the tradeshow you plan on exhibiting at prior to investing in a booth.

Setting up an exhibit is a significant investment, often north of $10,000 including travel, booth development, design, promotional items and marketing materials. After you “try out” a tradeshow, and you feel that the attendees would be good prospects for your business, get ready, grab your top salespeople, and start planning!

Ok, so you are thinking, “I don’t have $5000 to invest in a booth, and can’t afford another $2000 to transport it and pay ridiculous fees for electricity, chairs and a union guy to lay down carpet for me.” Well, that is all true, but you can set up a simple booth on a shoestring budget. Our company just invested around $1500 at FastSigns for 2 pull up screens and a large banner. It wouldn’t win any booth awards, but it was respectable. And even better-all of this was shipped in a box by FedEx (or, I could have carried if I wasn’t so lazy) and it took 10 minutes to set up.

The next step is to get effective promotional items. Try to be creative, and think of something that stands out and is complementary to your company’s theme.  We have recently adopted a “stand out from the competition” theme, so we ordered some unique orange coffee mugs with our logo and tagline on them, and they were very well received during the morning session. (But beware of shipping expenses with larger promotional items).

Now, the pursuit of partners doesn’t stop here, in fact, it is just starting. It’s critical that the booth staff have a clear understanding of what their objective is while they are at the show.

Are they there to promote? Find vendors? Develop relationships? Make sure you establish some goals for everyone before the first attendees walk through the door.

Next, practice your pitch on each other. I swear, even as an experienced owner, my pitch was very rough at the beginning of our last show. By the end, I was smooth like butter. Why? Practice! How would a 23 year old without supervision or training do on their pitch if they don’t practice? Most likely, they’d struggle and lose out on key opportunities.

The next step is big: Don’t sit down. Get out in front of the table and use your promotional items to draw people in and make conversation. The question “Want a yo-yo?” can do wonderful things for initiating a fun conversation.

As you are meeting prospects and collecting business cards, be sure to write on the back of their cards little reminders or “grades” so you can prioritize the business cards you collect after the show. Once you return to your office, start smiling and dialing right away. Follow up with emails and track the results. If you’ve selected and prepared for the right tradeshow you should develop some excellent partnerships within 3 to 6 months.

Joe Witte is a partner at Logo Design Guru (http://www.logodesignguru.com) and has successfully started 3 small businesses including CentricSource and Travel Ad Network.

Avoiding the Bad Employees: Hiring Tips for Your Small Business

Posted on July 28th, 2008, 06:07 am
Filed Under (Biz Start Up) by Joe Witte

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Let me get the catchphrase out of the way…your employees, also known as “people”, are really important to your business.  They’ll handle your money, your customers (who give you money), your product (which you sell for money) and you’ll spend more time with them than your family.  So why do so many people get stuck with bad employees? Typically, it’s because we fail to search, prepare and interview candidates thoroughly, and are hasty to hire someone hoping they’ll work out. These bad hiring habits result in a weak workforce which will make your life miserable and destroy your business.

My first suggestion is to ensure that workload doesn’t cloud your judgment.  If you are desperate for an employee because your team is overworked, or you just lost an employee, you’ll inadvertently drop your standards just so that you’re not stuck working 12 hours a day. This compromise will usually lead to hiring some knucklehead who is under qualified, lazy or dishonest which leads to frustration and wasted time and money.

So where can you find good candidates? Clearly, the position and degree of experience will require different search methodologies, but for entry to mid-level white collar employees, we have used Monster.com. This site can usually produce 15-20 relatively qualified resume’s that have led to multiple successful hires for our firm. Other sites to consider are CareerBuilder.com and HotJobs.com. These postings are not cheap, so start by posting one career opportunity on the site of your choice and see if it meets your expectations. Career fairs are also a great way to meet hundreds of people immediately and get a good sense of a candidates “presence” and professionalism. “Grading” the resume’s you receive and setting up interviews on the spot is a great way to maximize your investment in the show. For whatever reason, many of the candidates won’t show up for their interview or even give the courtesy of calling.  The best method of finding a good employee is employee referrals. These referrals are cost effective, and good employees usually won’t recommend someone who would embarrass them.

The next phase is interview preparation. It’s not just the candidate that has to get ready. Make sure you and your staff dress properly, and make your candidate feel comfortable when they arrive so they are more forthcoming with their answers. Ensure that you have researched and developed a thorough list of questions prior to meeting candidates- and that you ask each candidate the same questions. Questions should relate to their experience and what they will bring to the position, character and their personal interests. Pay attention to the prospects’ dress, handshake, eye contact and level of confidence. If the position requires technical skills, TEST THEM. I always look to see if the candidate is involved in some form of community service. This is a clear indication of responsibility, kindness, teamwork and lack of selfishness which usually makes for an excellent employee. Don’t overlook interview blunders such as resume’ spelling errors (or not having a resume’ in an interview), tardiness or inappropriate dress. If someone makes these errors this early in the game, they aren’t going to get better, they’ll get worse.

Be sure to have 2 separate interviews with the candidates and get at least one other person to meet with them from your staff. It’s impossible to get to know someone in one hour, but over the course of 3 or 4 hours on multiple days, you’ll get a better sense of their personality and character.

So, how do you choose? A simple rule to remember is hire people you like and who seem to have good character. If you get along with them well, and they have the right requirements chances are it’s a good fit.

Joe Witte is a partner at Logo Design Guru, and has successfully started 3 small businesses including CentricSource and Travel Ad Network

Constructive Criticism and your Graphic Designer

Posted on July 23rd, 2008, 08:07 am
Filed Under (Graphic Design) by Ed C

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Criticism and critiquing are fine art forms, when properly executed. They can be some of the most beneficial elements used when your graphic designer is creating your logo. Criticism and critique used in the wrong way can also be your project’s greatest detriment.

The most important thing to remember is that criticism in itself is a relative term; something you find unappealing may be another person’s masterpiece. A key point one should always keep in mind when relaying your thoughts, whether good or bad, must always stay positive. Think to yourself, “If I had spent 2 days working on a design would I want someone to flat out say that it was horrible? Probably not.

However, you probably wondering, “How do I give constructive criticism without rewarding uninspired work or giving unstructured, critiques that my designer doesn’t take seriously? The answer is a perfectly administered critique structure.

A good critique structure is essential to getting product you have envisioned:

•Always start out on a positive note: This is key. Remember there is no such thing as “bad art” its all subjective and opinion based. Use phrases such as “That’s a good start”, “I see what you tried to do here”, “This is good work”,

•Presenting negative points: Chances are you aren’t the first person to give an artist a negative comment. This is the point of constructive critiquing; one’s art cannot improve without assessment. Negative is “negative” there is no way around it, however, do it in a positive way. Avoid words like “ugly,” “horrible,” “bad,” “worst.”

•Be honest and direct: If you don’t like something say so, but being polite and professional is never a bad thing.

•Make it a team effort: Use phrases like “We need to take a look…” “What we should do is…” Making your designer feel like he is working with you rather than trying to satisfy you, will bring a better relationship and in turn a better product.

•Give at least one positive point: Even if you don’t like your designer’s attempt try to find a good aspect. Build the artist up. It never hurts to complement someone on their efforts. Bring out and reinforce the artist’s strong areas.

•Always end your conversations with a positive note: “This draft was good, Keep up the great work”, Thank you for your efforts” these will bring confidence to your designer, and with confidence comes better work.

•Rapport: A businesslike yet casual relationship will do wonders for a project. Keep the human element involved, and the results will follow.

Stick to these basic principles  and you and your designer will reap the benefits of awesome graphic design.

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Building a Small Business Brand:Why Your Logo Matters (But Not That Much)

Posted on July 17th, 2008, 01:07 pm
Filed Under (Biz Start Up, Branding) by Joe Witte

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I’m not sure  I should say this, since  I’m a partner at a logo design company, but your logo just doesn’t matter that much, and neither does your company name.  So, for all you small business owners who are spending hours every day pondering over your company name, wondering if you should call it “Smith Jewelers” or “Jewelry World”, or calling Uncle Ned to see if he likes your logo in dark blue or light blue, I have terrible news for you, it doesn’t really matter.

How can this be, you say? Well, let’s take a couple real life examples and see how important their company name and logos were to their success. Ford, Dell, Hewlett-Packard—boy, they thought hard about those companies didn’t they? Hmm, what’s my last name? Great! McDonald’s (another winner of a name) has a big “M” for a logo. Nike has a swish, Microsoft has—nothing, just their name in a lame italic font. ExxonMobil didn’t even take the time to put their logo in italics. Somehow, I don’t think these company logos had any effect, whatsoever, on their billions in revenue last year.

Now, before you run out and name your company “Slobby’s Suit Makers”- it’s important to be aware of what is important when developing your brand, and where you should spend your time, and money.  When it comes to a company name, there are some excellent rules to abide by when you are in the “naming” process. First, keep it short and easy to pronounce.  If your last name is Stratklowvitz, you probably want to come up with another concept. Second, try to be descriptive with a subtle name that can let people know what you do (I know, Logo Design Guru is not subtle-it’s a long story). And finally, pick a name that’s easy to spell, and someone can understand over the phone. Nothing is worse than having to repeat your company name 3 times until someone understands you.

Once you’ve decided on your business name, GET A PROFESSIONAL LOGO DESIGN.  Find a reputable online company (make sure they have a US office), or a local designer, but please don’t jump on Word and try to create your own logo. As a new business, you are building credibility, and your customers will know. Here are some rules to consider when you are giving your designer some input:

1. Keep it simple: Big, crazy, illustrative logos are hard to print and produce on marketing collateral.  If your logo wouldn’t look good on a golf ball, it may be too complex.

2. Minimize your colors: Unless you own “Rainbow Dry Cleaners”- keep your logo to 2 colors. Ideally, your logo will look good in grayscale as well.

3. Make it memorable: A slick, original logo is optimal. However, keep rule #1 in mind.

4. Balance: If you use an icon, it is typically centered above the text, or to the left of the text. However, it’s ok to break the rules, if done with caution.

5. Don’t pay too much: A close friend of mine developed software for $60,000. He was quoted by a local marketing company to build his brand for $75,000. These companies are self righteous and will squander your company. This is outrageous.

Your brand is something that you will develop and build upon, and, if you grow large enough, may even change. However, keep in mind that people won’t buy because your logo is red or blue, they’ll buy from you because you have a desirable product or service at a reasonable price.

Joe Witte is a partner at Logo Design Guru, and has successfully started 3 small businesses including CentricSource and Travel Ad Network.

Why Brochures Still Matter in a Paperless World

Posted on July 1st, 2008, 10:07 am
Filed Under (Branding, Brochure) by Daniel Natale

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In this increasingly paperless world, the majority of marketing collateral and business presentations consist of digital documents. From your latest PowerPoint masterpiece to a flashy interactive website, electronic media can be quick, easy, and visually stunning. There is no denying the advantages of electronic media.

However, due to these strengths it is likely your message will be forgotten. Your clients will want and need a permanent reminder of your message. Offer them the presence and physical cache of a slickly designed brochure.

1) A Brochure is Tangible

Made only of simple paper or basic card stock, a brochure is a tangible object that your clients will hold on to and keep. This is especially important if you offer a service that is abstract or industry specific. A brochure will give you a prime opportunity to explain your services and will allow your client time to absorb the finer points of your proposition.

2) A Brochure is Impressive

Traditionally the costs of designing and printing a brochure kept all but the biggest companies from producing a printed brochure. Fortunately, with the ease and efficiency of online design and printing, the cost has significantly fallen. Take advantage of this development, and present your small business as a juggernaut. Underscore to your clients that you know the value of professionally designed and printed collateral.

3) A Brochure is Simple

With the alphabet soup of file formats (PDF, DOC, PPT, HTML) the last thing you want to do is confuse a potential client. Don’t force them to take a training course in computer science just to read your pitch, give them a prepared hard copy. Not only will your client’s appreciate this, but also your message will be clearer without the noise of unwanted technical questions.

4) A Brochure is Timeless

Today’s cutting edge web presentation will be passé and outdated in a matter of months. Rapid shifts in technology can make your slick electronic collateral dated and obsolete overnight. Don’t waste time and money chasing the next big thing. Invest in a brochure, a time tested and proven medium.

A brochure with a classic design will stand the test of time. Easily portable, and simply stored, a brochure will always remain not only on someone’s desk but also in their mind.