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Surviving the Economic Downturn

Posted on November 13th, 2008, 01:11 pm
Filed Under (Biz Start Up) by Joe Witte

I just read at Bloomberg that the U.S. unemployment rate is going to hit it’s highest since 1994. Another 500,000 people will be laid off, and I have a sneaky suspicion that this is only the beginning. Just about every major industry is suffering—auto, banking, real estate/mortgage and retail, you name it.

It won’t be long until this recession trickles down to hit just about everyone who isn’t a doctor. A close friend of mine who manages a mutual fund and is a financial analyst confided that this recession could take up to six years to fully recover. So, how can you prepare your small business for this economy?

Stay Calm
Your employees, clients and family are depending on you to lead them in a time of potential crisis. Do your best to make decisions methodically, and get the counsel of other professionals who can help you make good judgments. The last thing you want to do is unnecessarily sever relationships with employees or vendors, potentially inflicting unnecessary damage to your company and reputation.

Avoid Debt
This suggestion may be late for many businesses, but for those of you that are considering going into business for yourself, do your best to build your business the right way. Something that our company, Logo Design Guru, has done extremely well is to build a profitable business with no debt.

I’ve seen many companies take massive loans to expedite growth rather than grow organically, only to hit a speed bump and never recover. It’s always easier to get money when you have money. And, since we are profitable, we’ve been able to save for opportunities as well as for rainy days. Get ready for a storm.

Eliminate Waste
Now is a great time to review your vendors. Contracts with vendors such as telephone companies, merchant accounts, payroll services, health care services, and office supplies should be renegotiated, or replaced with a less costly vendor. These actions should be done prior to layoffs or cutting marketing expenses.

Be Honest
Let them know the financial status of the company. It is OK to tell your employees that raises are frozen as a result of the economic conditions. You may be surprised at how well your staff rallies behind you in order to save the company, and ultimately, their own jobs.

Develop a Game Plan
Create several financial scenarios for stress tests. Each scenario should have a plan that you can implement in the event you don’t reach your sales or revenue benchmarks. This allows you to remain methodical without getting overly emotional.

Look for Opportunities
Successful businesspeople look for silver linings in the cloud. Your competitors will begin to disappear, thus opening up an opportunity to gain market share. You can forge new relationships with other companies who also are looking for ways to generate new revenue. Don’t stop marketing. In fact, get creative and aggressive with your marketing. If you survive the rough times, you will come out even stronger when the economy rebounds.

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

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Giving the Store Away: Good Promotion or Tired Trick?

Posted on November 12th, 2008, 01:11 pm
Filed Under (Biz Start Up) by Daniel Natale

Saw this over at Endgadget, Sam’s Club is offering a Nintendo Wii Family Bundle for $224 on Black Friday. Included in the bundle are three Wiiremotes, Three nun chucks, and three games, much more valuable then the $224 price tag. Sam’s Club is claiming quantities are limited. Good ploy to drive business into the store, or unnecessary give away to people that will be there to shop anyway? Does this type of give away have an impact on consumers who are used to ridiculous black Friday deals?

What does your small business do in terms of freebies and giveaways?

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Check out SOHO blog!

Posted on November 6th, 2008, 12:11 pm
Filed Under (Biz Start Up) by Daniel Natale

Check out the Small Home Small Office Blog at www.sohoblog.org, it offers some nice tips and good advice on running a small business and reaching your immediate and long-term goals.

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Small Business Inspiration: Sticking To Your Principles and Running a Successful Small Business

Posted on October 24th, 2008, 11:10 am
Filed Under (Biz Start Up, Brochure) by Lisa Rodgers

Today, I am weighing in on my small business and how it all began. In April, 2000, I got started in natural spa products after leaving a micro-managed job to pursue something on my own but what that was, I didn’t have a clue. Natural bath and body products were an interest and I was curious as to how they were made. I started selling/making natural soaps for a company in Seattle that was in need for independent reps. Later, the owner was no longer interested in the business so I decided to create Cactus & Ivy. Now, here I am, 8 years later. I am still learning and taking it all in. Going into business for myself was the best move I ever made. Well, second to my marriage. I wouldn’t be in this business had it not been for the love and support of my husband.

The most enjoyable moments in my career have to be working for myself. I left a world full of management looking over my shoulder at every sales move I made. I did not go into business for myself to make a killing….just a living. I am still a consumer to others and I wanted to make sure I offered an exceptional product for a fair price. I absolutely, positively love getting up in the morning to see what the day will bring. Cactus & Ivy is a fun place to work and I have vowed from the beginning that no employee will ever feel the way I did when I was in the corporate world rat race.

The greatest challenges I face are competing with the companies that can afford to purchase nifty packaging at large volumes or has the added capital to run ads for an abundance of exposure. Consumers are starting to look to the “indie” part of the natural products industry. I look at how we all started out. The “indie” manufacturer has always been providing the hand made, natural product and is now being recognized. The larger companies are starting to realize that natural is the way to go so they’ve stepped up to the plate and are providing the added competition.

To remain competitive, I send out mailings that include a postage paid card that can be returned if a prospective wholesale client would like to receive free samples. For the retail end of the spectrum, I choose options that will allow Cactus & Ivy to get in front of the consumer for a reasonable cost. Every business has to be conscious of the money they spend for brand awareness, however, small businesses are usually operating off a very limited budget and we need the most bang for our buck. We are very talented in the ways of promoting our business and tooting our own horn. You have to be when you are working with limited capital.

Cactus & Ivy has is presently participating in The Green Retailer and Pure Zing. I am constantly seeking beauty sites that welcome product submissions to review. In addition to budget friendly advertising, Cactus & Ivy is also a member of several organizations that also promote our brand. We are a member of PETA’s Caring Consumer, The Leaping Bunny Program and the Indie Beauty Network.

Cactus & Ivy has never tested its products on animals, nor will we ever. In addition, we only purchase raw materials from companies that adhere to the same standard. That was an easy decision from the inception of Cactus & Ivy and something we don’t take lightly and is non-negotiable.

After joining the Caring Consumer program, we decided to remove all animal byproducts from our ingredients. We have replaced beeswax with candelilla wax and we no longer use honey. Each opportunity brings change and Cactus & Ivy wants to change with it. In addition to Cactus & Ivy products being “cruelty free” we are now “vegan” too!! We are phasing out old packaging and gearing toward eco-friendly in all aspects that we can. Once we are depleted of our raw materials, we will be replacing them with Organic, where available.

Every decision I make is based on what Cactus & Ivy can sustain. I’d love to have the eco-friendly packaging now, however, my bottom line cannot afford to go that route just yet. I continue to scour the internet sourcing better pricing on raw materials and packaging. I am constantly thinking of our customers, because without them, Cactus & Ivy wouldn’t exist.

So, now you know a little about me and my company, Cactus & Ivy. For those interested in starting your own business, I say go for it! If you are looking to start a bath and body products company, know the market you are wanting to target. Create products with a purpose and not just because it’s a fad. Bring your own flair to the products and continue to look for ways to make it better. Make sure you become a member of social networks and use them to promote your business. You’d be pleasantly surprised at the connections you make. I have been on Twitter for several months and just joined LinkedIn. Both arenas are proving to be very beneficial, not only for business contacts but I have made some really awesome friendships that I cherish!

As in any business, competition is healthy. It keeps you honest. I’ve been in sales most of my adult life and I have always looked at “no” is just a two letter word. There are plenty of “yeses” to go around. Be persistent and never give up! Live your dream!

I want to end my post with a big thank you to Daniel with Logo Design Guru for allowing me to be a guest writer on Logo Talk. For those of you that don’t know, Logo Design Guru designed my logo and I couldn’t be happier. Having a good logo to represent your brand is a must! You want people to automatically associate your logo with your products or services. The Cactus & Ivy logo was one (1) of eight (8) logos that was awarded the prestigious American Graphic Design Award in the 2007 competition. Wow….it doesn’t get any better than that!

Have a fabulous day!

Lisa M. Rodgers is the CEO of Cactus & Ivy a cruelty free and vegan manufacturer of natural spa, bath and body products.

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Don’t Let the Fish off the Hook Small Business Internet strategies:Part III of III

Posted on October 16th, 2008, 01:10 pm
Filed Under (Biz Start Up, Interactive) by Joe Witte

Are you attracting a lot of “fish” to your small business website but not catching them? Think of your website as a fishing rod and online marketing (Search Engine Optimization, Pay Per Click, online advertising, etc) as your bait. Online marketing attracts fish to bite your bait. But what reels them in? Leave that to page optimization or website conversion techniques.

What are conversions? Conversions are the action of a random visitor “converting” to a lead, sale, phone call, or registration. Conversion rate is the metrics used to determine how often visitors turn into sales or leads.

Conversion rates vary in every industry, but typical conversion rates are between 0.5 and 8 percent, with the norm running between 0.5 and 2 percent. So, if you aren’t converting 50 percent of your traffic, don’t panic. No one is.

While your small business website that is not “Amazonian” in magnitude, you can still have a major impact on tracking and improving its performance, or “conversion rate,” of visitors once they come to your website.

The first step to catching these fish is observing them. There are two key ways to watch what people do on your site. The first is to ask people (friends or family) to go to your site, and observe what they do. What do they click on? Do they have a hard time finding the links or actions you want them to take? This will help you with any potential redesigns that may be necessary in order to increase conversions.

The next priority is to create a click stream analysis. A Click stream analysis allows you to determine what pages people are finding by conducting searches (entry pages), and where they go once they visit your website, and where they leave (exit pages). Google Analytics (a free tool from Google Inc.) is critical for small website owners to use and review to look at their site statistics. This will give you a huge amount of information to determine what pages people are finding, and where they are leaving.

You can then ask yourself, “Why do they leave once they get to my services page?” Then you can research and work on improving that page.

The second step to catching a lot of fish is to think like them. Get in the mind of your clients and try to figure out what they look for, what’s important to them, and what other sites they compare you to.

Does your site’s unique selling proposition (USP) stand out from your competition? Can they easily find testimonials? What do you want your prospect to do? Do you want them to register for your newsletter? Do you want them to purchase your product? Do you want them to call or fill out a lead form? As simple as it sounds, once you determine the best course of action that will lead to the most sales, then you can gear your website towards this objective.

If you want your clients to fill out a lead form, I’d recommend putting a simple lead form on every page. If you want them to purchase your product, lead them to the pages that show your product or service and show that you have the best pricing, service, and product. Be wary of trying to drive your customers directly to the order form. Just because they are online, doesn’t mean that they will buy without some research.

You must lead people to do what you want them to do, and it must be simple and easy to find. If someone has to look for more than 3 seconds to determine what you do, they’ll steal your bait and swim. A significant challenge for any company is balancing design aesthetics with functionality and conversion performance. Sometimes, a button may be ugly, but if people are clicking on it and converting, then it may be worth the distraction.

Here are some obvious, yet easily overlooked tips for every website:

1) Ensure your company’s phone number is prominently placed on every page. Our company underestimated the number of sales we drive via the phone. People want to talk to the companies they are about to give their business to.

2) Put a lead form on your home page. Be sure to capture the users name, email, phone and their interest.

3) Get to the point- let people know what you do, and how it will help them, and why you are better than your competition within the first 2 sentences on your website.

4) Include EXTRA buttons for the pages you want people to visit in addition to the navigation at the top or left. Give people multiple paths to go to the pages you want them to go to, and keep it above the fold.

5) Feature the items or services you want to sell.

6) Keep your website fresh. Give people a reason to come back and visit regularly. Think BLOG!

This is our final article of three covering basic internet strategies for small and local businesses. The first article discussed building your website, the second article covered the basics of search engine optimization, and this article we discusses way to increase conversions once someone has visited your website.

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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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

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.

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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

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.

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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

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”).

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.

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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

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

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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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