Tips On Creating An Effective Website

Posted on April 28, 2012 by Brian

business coachingEven though there are millions of websites in the World Wide Web and more being added every day, the majority of them do not adhere to the simplest of formulas for keeping their visitors engaged. Not only do you want engagement, you want those visitors to come back for more on a regular basis. and coming back for more.

By now the bulk of entrepreneurs understand the need for a web presence and what a well crafted website can do for their business. Your website lends a certain credibility to your business and is infinitely more flexible and dynamic than a Yellow Pages Advertisement.

Your website is a “silent salesperson” – representing you and your business on the internet. It is there to capture the attention (read eyeballs) of surfing visitors whilst engaging and educating them about your service or product offerings.

Rather than being an expensive static business card in cyberspace, the site should convey your value proposition and show  your visitors that you are the solution to their problems. Unfortunately for most businesses they don’t research and know their potential customers wants and needs – their “pain” if you will.

If they did they would design the website to satisfy and deliver on several key objectives. One is to ensure that the website contains content that your target market  is in fact interested in.

Another is formatting this content in such a way that it leads the visitor in and holds their attention. Once this is achieved you can then position your offer or capture vital details of your visitor that can then be employed in email marketing campaigns.

If your purpose is to entertain, then by all means entertain. If your purpose is to educate your visitor on the merits of your offerings, then do so. Deliver quality content that enlightens and gives your visitors exactly what they were seeking.

Make your message clear and simple whilst helping them solve problems that have motivated them enough to search the internet for a solution. Do this without forcing them to sift through a lot of unrelated information to get to what they really need.

If you want to really optimize the opportunities your website can deliver, then here are the main points you want to have included on your website:

  • It should be designed with the keywords you want to be found for (and people are searching for) on the Internet
  • Make sure there is a clear and irresistible offer to excite and motivate your visitor
  • Galvanize the visitor with a call to action
  • A mechanism to capture your visitors email and name as a minimum
  • There should be a regular stream of quality content being added to your site
  • It should feature videos and audios
  • There should be consistent Search Engine Optimization (SEO)  occurring

It is not enough to just have a site on the internet. It is a very crowded place and the competition is fierce, so you have to stand out to be successful.

It has been said that tacking your business card to a tree in the middle of a forest somewhere would be just as effective a way of promoting your business as putting up a website without objectives and a promotion plan.

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Special Report On Small Business

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Brian

Following are the results of a survey commissioned by Profitkoach in 2011.

The survey targeted small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and focused on the challenges experienced by small business entrepreneurs in Australia. Brian Bijdeveldt, director of ProfitKoach, said the survey showed that three areas accounted for 76 percent of the challenges experienced.

Australian Small Business Owners Face Three Key Challenges

Our analysis has given us an insight into the key challenges faced by Small & Medium sized Enterprise (S.M.E.) in Australia. We have categorised these issues into the following segments:

Key Segments

  • COMPETITION
  • FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
  • HUMAN RESOURCES
  • MARKETING
  • SALES
  • FUNDING ISSUES
  • BUSINESS TRANSITION
  • INTERNATIONAL MARKETS

Based on our survey and analysis of over 100 businesses we have found the key challenges faced by SMEs are distilled into 3 key areas:

  • HR Management,
  • Marketing and
  • Sales

The following table depicts the distribution of businesses nominating each of the key segments as their main challenges. Fully 76 percent of the response is evident in three areas.

  • Competition                  4%
  • Financial Management  4%
  • HR Management          31%
  • Marketing          18%
  • Sales                        27%
  • Funding                        10%
  • Business Transition       6%
  • International Markets     0%

The following table shows the key challenges identified by the SMEs during our research under each key segment:

Competition

  • Lack of information about competitors
  • Pricing Strategy for their products and services
  • Lack of unique/differentiating factors
  • Unable to respond to new challenges from competitors

Financial Management

  • Poor financial management skill
  • Poor budgeting skill
  • Poor accounts / book keeping skills
  • Poor inventory control
  • Poor cash flow management skills
  • Lack of cost analysis skills
  • Unable to measure profit and loss

Human Resources

  • Ineffective management team
  • Lack of efficiency
  • Lack of Business Process for human resources
  • Inadequate human resources
  • Lack of motivation

Marketing

  • Lack of marketing plan
  • Lack of marketing analysis
  • Lack of marketing strategies
  • Lack of web marketing strategies
  • Lack of Public Relations program
  • Lack of marketing channels

Sales

  • No dedicated sales force
  • Owner is usually the sales resource as well
  • Lack of sales activities
  • Lack of Sales Process
  • Lack of CRM system to manage sales process
  • Lack of Sales Training
  • Ineffective use of sales channels
  • Lack of effective distribution channels

Funding Issues

  • Lack of financial projection skills
  • Lack of forecasting skills
  • Lack of Business Plan writing skills
  • Lack of experience in discussing or negotiating finances
  • Lack of presentation skills when comes to funding
  • Lack of knowledge in terms of financing

Business Transition

  • Critical transition period from previous generation
  • Unable to integrate acquired businesses
  • Unable to sell non-performing units

International Markets

  • Lack of know-how in planning for exporting
  • Lack of knowledge in international markets
  • Lack of knowledge in targeting opportunities in offshore markets

In terms of Sales and Marketing, it was found that SMEs spend very little time in planning and budgeting for their sales and marketing activities, and often base them on an adhoc approach.

Other issues communicated by business owners related to:

  • Managing the business
  • Marketing
  • Productivity (employees and business owners)
  • Administration support
  • Financial budgeting

Other concerns were inventory control, staff satisfaction, waste elimination, unproductive use of time and reducing supply chain costs.

In most cases, smaller retailers are operating with a short sighted view, without any real business knowledge, absorbed ‘in their’ daily business and unable to work ‘on their’ business to employ more people to delegate smaller tasks and concentrate on growth strategies.

Financial issues are often related to poor sales and ineffective human resources management. Funding is becoming a major issue for many corporations, and is likely to become critical in 2012 as banks tighten their lending criteria.

Surprisingly, although international markets / exporting was regarded as a key growth area by many corporations, Australian businesses especially SMEs are still largely unprepared (needing quality market research and business intelligence) compared to their counterparts in Europe and North America.

Australian SMEs may have been missing a lot of business opportunities overseas due to a lack of ready access to valuable global market information.

End Report

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Starting A Small Business

Posted on October 17, 2011 by Brian

It is perhaps everyone’s dream to be their own boss, leave the 9-5 rat race behind, and starting a small business. Most people don’t get this opportunity or just don’t take action. In times of economic uncertainty, redundancy can force people to realize their very own business dreams.

Running a small business is among the biggest life altering events that you can experience. It can be thought of as a marriage; starting a small business requires the same commitment and desire. And just like marriage, you will be living with your business 24 hours each day and 365 days in a year. Here are easy steps to guide you when jump starting a business.

Examining your heart

The initial step in starting a small business knows whether it is perfect for you. You need to have that passion and burning desire to be your own boss, transform your dream into reality and market your service/product. Running a business is not for the indifferent and ambivalent. Ask yourself the following questions before digging into this new venture:

  • Do you want operate independently and be the decision maker of the company who will shoulder all responsibilities?
  • Are you capable of working hard and make the necessary sacrifices needed in jump starting a business?
  • Do you have self discipline and confidence that will equip you to persevere and grow your new enterprise into a success?

If you answered ‘no’ to one of these, then you are not ready for this new entrepreneurial venture. Overnight success stories are just stories. True success only comes from hard work and perseverance over time.

Do you have what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur?

There are distinct traits and attitudes that make some individuals more suited for starting a small business compared to others. A recent study revealed that the top attributes of successful entrepreneurs include perseverance, competitiveness, self reliance, willingness and desire to take initiatives, self confidence, excellent physical health and the passion to achieve. But even if you have all these successful entrepreneur qualities, you really won’t get anywhere if you don’t put these traits into action.

Abilities of a successful entrepreneur

According to a research study, there are six factors that every entrepreneur needs when starting a business namely business/industry knowledge, self motivation, marketing skill, customer/vendor relations, organizational/management qualities and a strong vision.

Business and industry knowledge should be on top of the list for your business success. Investing time in learning the skills before you even start a business is wise as you have already decided to put a lot of effort into starting your business.

Avoid becoming a statistic

The business failure statistic shows that about 75% of small businesses fail in the first five years. Many businesses fail because of weak general management, weak marketing capabilities and weak financial management.

Preparation and planning will help you avoid the failures of starting a small business. Aside from having the top entrepreneurial qualities, you need to have that passion to fuel your commitment.

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Do You Need A Social Media Marketing Plan?

Posted on August 30, 2011 by Brian

Facebook fanpages for businessA lot of people are now creating Facebook pages as a component of their social media marketing plan Once it used to be only  personal pages that you would find of mostly young people between the ages of 21 and 28.  Nowadays you can find almost everything you are looking for on Facebook.

Often time’s even businesses that don’t have websites have Facebook pages.  This should go to show you just how effective having Facebook pages for business can be. Every business is using internet marketing today and what better way to do it than with the use of Facebook.

It is currently the most popular social networking website and the most trafficked website in the world to date. This means having Facebook pages for business can bring your business more traffic than any other method you may have or have not used in the past such as article marketing or blogging.

Facebook is ideal even for businesses just starting out as you can freely access all the necessary tools on the website once you create a profile with a valid email address. With around an hour or so you can have a perfect page up and start looking for friends or relatives to add to your page.

You add these people first and then they can do some word of mouth to get you some fans and likes as well. Many times when you get something free it usually is not worth much but not so when it comes to Facebook.

You will need to learn a lot of things if you are new to the field of internet marketing but who has the time o wait to learn it all before you start benefiting?

Not you, right?

That is why Facebook is right for you. When you create your business profile and add a couple of friends your profile will start working for you right away giving you time to go and learn some more while it works by itself basically.

Yes you have to update the page ever so often to ensure that you keep attracting potential customers but with more knowledge of the tools you can utilize on Facebook you can reach even more people in record time.

If you are considering internet marketing one of the first things you should do is to get some Facebook pages for business promotion. You may find (and a lot of people do) that this is all you need to make it successful as a business.

Just by joining this free website and using the many free tools that they have available to all their subscribers you can make the future of your business a brighter and more promising one.

Check out Facebook as a part of your social media marketing plan today and see how getting some Facebook pages for business promotion can help you get to the top of the ladder in your niche market and help you stay there for the long haul.

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Fill Your Sales Pipeline – Describe Your Services

Posted on August 17, 2011 by Brian

Service businessToo often professional service providers neglect to clearly define to their prospects (or  referral partners) what services they deliver. Have you ever spoken to an existing client about what you do, and they have said; “Oh, I didn’t realize you did that!”. If you have then that is an indicator that you may be missing out on opportunities to sell other services to your prospects/clients.

When providing business coaching to my clients, I ask them to really communicate their services effectively and powerfully. You will need to sit down and answer these questions:

What Services Do I Offer?

  • Ideally the services you provide would match and satisfy a real demand in the market place.
  • Do you deliver a range of services or go with a one size fits all approach?
  • Do you offer basic, medium and premium services based on client size and complexity?
  • What problems do your services solve for your clients?
  • How will your services benefit your clients?
  • Do you perform analysis only or a full spectrum of analysis, design of solution, implementation and ongoing support?

How Do I Communicate What I Do?

Having a great range of services is one thing, conveying this to educate your market is another. You need to constantly be describing what you do for your prospects and clients. Include your service description in the following:

  • Your brochures
  • The company website
  • Business cards
  • Your invoices and quotes
  • Email messages
  • Presentation materials
  • Your elevator speech

Prospects will appreciate knowing what it is that you do for them. Erase the confusion, and not only will you get more business, you will save lots of time and energy by not pursuing prospects that are not a good match for (or do not want) your services.

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