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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

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.

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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

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.

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