Get that Website in 2012

This year, I vow to attract more web design clients.  Part of it is of course that I am in business, and I make money when I design websites.  The other side of it is that I like helping small businesses succeed.  I like the feeling I get when I know that I helped someone achieve his or her goal.  That may sound odd, but it’s true.

If you’re on the fence about having a website, then let me convince you why it’s important to your business.

First.  How do you look up businesses these days?  Do you immediately go to the phone book?  Do you immediately go to Google or Yahoo and look up the business either by name or by type?  Chances are if you are reading this blog, then you look up businesses online.  That’s the number one reason you need to have a Web presence.  If you don’t, then how are people going to find you?  They may find you through referrals – yes, word of mouth still matters in this day and age.  They won’t find you by accident though if they are searching the Internet.

Second.  You have the opportunity to create a first impression of your business to your prospective customers.  Websites can have many functions, but one of the primary functions is as an introduction to your business.  It is an online brochure.  It gives your prospective customers time to review the services your offer and read about your business.  Even if your business is on Main Street, USA, it still pays to have a website.

Third.  A website is a revenue generator.  Even if you are not selling online, you are still promoting your business  As more and more people turn to the Internet, businesses need to be available online with information on how to contact them via phone, fax, email and online forms.

Hopefully, I have made you aware of why a website matters.  And remember, you don’t have to have the snazziest most extravagant site on the Net.  You do need to have a professionally designed site that makes your business look good.  If you go for simple, just remember, you can easily add on and change down the line.  The Internet and websites are flexible that way.

The Internet Keeps Changing and so Do I

If you have been involved with the Internet for any length of time, you will readily admit that the Internet seems to keep changing at a faster and faster pace.  At times, it probably overwhelms you because as soon as you master one skill or area, it’s time to move on and try your hand at yet another.  It’s the nature of the industry, and you have to either keep up or find a niche – a little area of the cyber world that you can keep up with, and that’s in demand.

Many firms try to do it all.  That’s okay for some, but that doesn’t have to be you.  When I began designing Web sites in the late 90s, I could wear more hats and keep with all the changes that were taking place.  As time as gone on, I have found myself specializing and changing at the same time.  I used to do it all, but I discovered that my niche is in two areas:  designing sites for small businesses and using social media as a marketing tool for small businesses.  There are still many things that I do beyond that, but I concentrate on the things I do well and that I feel confident about.

If you depend on the Internet for your business too, consider not doing it all.  There’s nothing wrong in limiting your business to things you do well.  If you do, then make sure you network.  Then if someone needs a service that you don’t excel in, you can either refer them to one of your acquaintances or contract that acquaintance for the work.

At the same time, you need to remain flexible and current.  The Internet is constantly changing, so you do have to keep up and you do have to be able to adapt and change directions as needed.  I never would have pictured myself as a social media marketing just two years ago, but I took on the challenge as a volunteer for an organization I belong to, and I found that I liked it.  Then someone who knew my volunteer work with social media approached me and said he liked how I handled the marketing, and suddenly, I realized that I had a new aspect to add to my business.

Change and adapt – that’s what I do.  Consider it for yourself too.

Selling Sand to Saudi Arabia

That’s right.  I’ve sold sand to Saudi Arabia.  Don’t they have enough sand?  Yes, but they don’t have the right type of sand.  Years ago, I worked under a salesperson whose sales territory included Saudi Arabia, and one day we got an inquiry for sand from a company in Saudi Arabia.  People in our company laughed and congratulated us when we managed to lock in a sale for thousands and thousands of tons of sand the country known for its sand.  It was specialized sand used in those reflective tiles on roads that help us stay in our lanes at night.

That brings me to my topic today.  What does it say about a country where it is cheaper to ship our raw minerals to other countries, have them manufacture the items and then ship them back as finished products for Americans to buy at lower prices than if they had been manufactured here?

Think about it.  That same company I worked for also sold raw materials to Korea and Taiwan for products that were manufactured there and shipped back here for sale.  Think about what went into those products.  The raw materials came from places like the United States, Australia and South America.  Then companies paid for those minerals to be mined and shipped via truck, rail and ocean to countries such as Taiwan and Korea.  Then the workers in those countries worked in factories and built those products – cars, ovens, china, paint, lawnmowers, and so much more.  Those products were put back on ships and brought here to the United States and dispersed to stores throughout our country via rail and truck.  All that moving around, and those products are cheaper with that long manufacturing and distribution chain than if they had been made here.

I liked working for that company because I learned so much about raw materials and freight, and I also was exposed to so many people in this country and in so many other countries, but I often thought about the implications since I knew that many of those products produced overseas would be back on our store shelves.  Someone said something the other day, and I thought about our sand sale.

I would like to see the United States build up a manufacturing base again.  I think one of the things our economy needs is a balance among all kinds of industries, and we have lost so much in terms of manufacturing here.  But I don’t have any good answers.  I myself am a consumer rather than a producer.  I offer services rather than goods.  One thing I can try to do is buy American when I can, but it’s not the easiest thing to do especially with a tight budget and so few things produced here.

What can we do to make American manufacturing more competitive?  There has to be a way to compete with goods that travel so many more miles and are touched by so many companies than our own made goods.

Selling Online – What Options Are There?

The world is bigger than just eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.  Before you sell online, you need to research and decide which format is the best for you.  You need to consider fees and shipping carefully before you jump in.  Make sure their fees are along the lines of the other ones and that they offer shipping options that work well for you as the seller.

Some sites you should consider in addition to eBay and Amazon are eBid, BlueJay and eCrater.  The reviews of them are quite favorable, and you’ll find that they are popping up in the links I give you below.  What I find most useful in reading what others say is the recommendations they give that may help you sell your particular product.  For instance, one site mentioned that Overstock.com seems do well with jewelry.  I didn’t even know that I could sell products on Overstock.com until I read the article.

See what sites are recommending to sell your items:

·         Top 6 Places to Sell Online (Article from 2008)

·         Best Places to Sell Your Stuff Online (Article from 2011)

·         5 Best Sites to Sell Online (Article from 2011)

·         19 Places to Sell Online Other Than Ebay (article from 2009)

These sites won’t tell you everything you need to know.  They just open your eyes to the sites your can use.  Now what you need to do is visit the sites that interest you most and see what their terms, fees and conditions are.  Then you should turn to a guide to online selling.  This may be an online article or a book in your library.  Libraries actually have some very useful Internet resources.  Just make sure that the book you check out is less than two years old since the online market changes rapidly.

Whether you are trying to begin an online retail business using a online selling service or just selling a few items to pocket some money and get rid of things, make sure you do your homework and take the time to describe your product well and showcase it with photos.  One thing that all of these sites agree on is that how your display and describe your product matters in selling it successfully online.

Kindness of Strangers

Sometimes, it is good to get off topic.  Today is one of those days.  Sometimes, I am struck by the kindness of strangers.

This week, while running errands with my children, my son inadvertently lost his IPod which he had had for less than two weeks.  Needless to say, I was upset and frustrated.  I had the kids look carefully through the van while I called the stores to see if it had been returned.  I wasn’t too hopeful because many people would simply pocket the thing if they found it.

I was thrilled when I called Target, and they said someone had returned it to their lost and found.  Apparently, my son had dropped it by the van in the parking lot.  It’s amazing that it wasn’t even scratched let alone smashed by another vehicle.  Someone was a really good person and simply did the right thing:  returned it.

Throughout the years, I’ve run into many people who were just plain kind to strangers. 

Years ago, when I was in college, two of my high school friends were visiting me in Baltimore.  We had spent much of the morning roaming through Inner Harbor and then we were planning to go to the Aquarium.  It cost more than any of us expected, and we stared at the sign with the fees, and among us, we didn’t have enough.   This older gentleman walked up to us.  We weren’t sure about him since it was the city, but he said he would pay for one of us to get in.  What?  Admission for free?  There had to be a catch.  We were young women and not totally naive.  No catch he said.  His wife had passed away some months ago, and he was lonely and still had his membership.  He said he came most days to the Aquarium just to pass the time, and he made a point to look around and choose someone deserving of a free admission.  Sometimes he would pick a young couple, but that day he picked us.  He said he could tell that we were in college and probably didn’t have enough money.  So he led us through the membership door, paid for one of our admission, tipped his hat and wished us well.

Then some years later, I was at the Bay Bridge heading to visit my parents and got my turn at the toll only to find that the person ahead of me had paid for me.  It was Christmas time.  After that, I’ve done that a few times myself.  It’s a nice gesture and doesn’t cost all that much.  Apparently it is done at lot at the Bay Bridge.

While it doesn’t make up for all the meanness out there, those acts of kindness that pop up here and there give me some faith in humanity.  People have to remember that it’s the little things that matter.  Holding a door for someone coming up behind you.  Letting people off the elevator first before getting on.  Turning something into the lost and found instead of pocketing it.  It doesn’t take much, but it makes a world of difference.

Creative Marketing for Small Business

            Don’t have a large budget to promote your business?  You don’t necessarily need that, although it’s nice if you do.  There are many ways to market your small business without the budget taking a heavy hit.

·         109 Ways to Make Your Business Irresistible to the Media – This is a usefularticle that gives you sound ideas under the headings of “Build Relationships Months in Advance of Pitching,” “Once You’ve Met, Make the Pitch Transition Smooth,” “Ponder These Issues Prior to Pitching,” “21 Kinds of Reporter Bait,” and “A Few Important Don’ts.”

·         Pearl of the Week – The Pearl of the Week offers some simple and enlightening tips to consider when doing business.  They are simple common sense tips that can help your business grow.

·         How to Turn the Conversation from Blogging into Selling – For any of you who are trying to link your blog to your business, this article is useful.  It helps you bridge the gap without feeling guilty or like you are being pushy with your readership.

·         20 Creative Marketing Ideas for Small Business – Although this article was written in 2009, I find that they still are as relevant today as they were two years ago. 

There are many more ideas.  The key is to find ones that you can use comfortably and consistently until they begin to pay off.  The other tip I offer is patience.  Marketing won’t bring changes to your business’ bottom line overnight.  Have the patience to try this things for months consistently to bring results.

How Do You Choose a Web Design Person or Firm?

            As a small company, I found my niche in servicing other small companies.  As a result, I run into a lot of businesses whose owners are unsure of what they want.  Their budgets are so small and so limited that more often than not, they choose a friend to design their site or someone who is dirt cheap.  As a result, I come in to fix someone else’s mess.  I do it because I am in business to help people, but I have to say, I much rather design a site from scratch.  It’s much more fun and less frustrating.

            A friend or relative may not be the way to go.  Yes, you are on a budget, but don’t sabotage your company online by having a poorly designed site or one that has the “Under Construction” sign up for months, years, eons.

            So, if you are a small business, this blog is for you!

·         Decide ahead of time what you need:  Yes, you need a Web site, but what do you want the Web site to do? Is it simply an online brochure?  Do you want it to provide new leads?  Do you want it to offer current customer supplemental information? Do you want it to be an e-commerce site?  You have to know what you want the site to do for you.

·         Visit the web designer’s site and see some of their work:  You need to check out what designers have done.  Even if you are not in the market for something fancy, you have to see if the designer’s design sense is something you like.  If you don’t like what they’ve done, then you won’t be happy with what they do for you.

·         Meet the designer face-to-face:  Even if you are having a larger firm do the work for you, you need to meet the person who will actually be working on your site.  The person must be someone you feel like you can work with.  How does that person answer your questions and concerns?

·         Look at the services the web designer offers:  Some Web design firms only offer site design, while others offer e-commerce, social marketing or other services in addition.  They may also specialize in certain areas.  See that the services they offer are in line with what you need.

·         Look at response times:  When you first contact the company, how soon do they get back to you?  How quickly do they meet and quote you?  Do they act professional and courteous?  The first impressions that they make may tell you how well they will service your needs.

Most importantly go with your gut.  If you feel uneasy about someone, don’t go with that person.  Pay attention to referrals.  Referrals are often a good way to go.  If someone you know likes a person’s services and can tell you why, then you will probably like that person’s services too.

Driving Traffic to Your Website

            Well, I have a meeting with a new client coming up, and I’m a little worried.  He’s a pretty straight forward honest guy.  He doesn’t understand the Web too well, and he’s not very technical.  He wants to drive traffic to his site.  He wants to have people find his business that way, but he doesn’t want to bust the budget.  His business is industrial rather than retail.  In other words, his business will come from other businesses that are in the same industrial industry as he is.  Specialized.  I don’t want to disappoint him like his current marketing company does, so how do I help him reach that goal?

            And so the research begins.  Driving traffic to your Website isn’t simple any more.  There are so many sites out there, and they all want you to find them.  SEO has changed dramatically over the years.  Now to drive traffic to your site, you have to use a blend of social media and SEO.  But it comes at a cost.  The cost may not be in purchasing expensive ads, but it still involves manpower and time.

            Here’s some of what I have learned through my own experience and research:

1.      Use SEO to your advantage:  To make good use of search engines, you should understand your products well and be able to imagine how potential clients are going to find you.  What words may they use to search for you?  What are the key terms in your industry?  What are the key terms people will know?  Then you have to use those terms carefully in your site so that they make sense.  In other words, you cannot just dump keywords into your site like they did long ago.  Search engines are now smarter than that, so you have to make your content and your meta tags smart too.

2.      Make content count:  Even if you are just listing the products you sell on your site, find a way to describe the content on that page.  It can be a sentence or two, but good content helps search engines find you.  If you have a white paper, put it on.  Put on any press releases that you send out to news sources.  Make sure your company description is well written and comprehensive.

3.      Check links to and from your site:  Links from other sites can be useful.  Use search engines to see how others link to your site, and check whether you link to other sites and what those sites are.  If reputable sources and sources within your industrial link to your site, that is a good thing.  If one links that you think detract from your company, request that they take that link off.

4.      Join and participate in social media:  Yes, I know.  With what time?  We are often pressed for time in our daily business lives, but putting something out there with social media helps.  It’s exposure that you want on the Web and the more ways your expose your company, the more ways people have to find you.  You don’t even have to post daily on your company’s page.  It can be as little as once a week or once every two weeks as long as it is consistently posted.  It can be as simple as linking from Facebook or Twitter to an article that will be of interest to your potential customers.

These are just a few.  And I think they’re useful enough that I am going to present this to my (hopefully) future client.  It’s going to be hard to sell him on some of this because he has been frustrated with his current marketing/Web designer, but he said he wants more traffic to his site, and this is the way to start.  But unlike his current company, I am not going to make promises I can’t keep, but I will tell him that it will make a difference, and the difference will show in the numbers 6 months to a year down the line. 

Oh yeah, one more part about marketing:  Staying power to see it through at least 6 months because it can take that long to see results.

Social Media: Linkedin

            Linkedin is used differently than Facebook and Twitter.  Many businesses are actually using Linkedin to find prospective employees.  Some of the people I have spoken to and heard from say that with the online resume and postings, not only can they see a potential candidate’s qualifications, they can also see the person’s professional persona.  Does the person present a professional image?  Does the person go on regularly?  What kinds of postings does the person put online?  Facebook may show the social aspect of a person, but Linkedin gives a pretty good idea of a person’s professionalism and ease online.

            Some weeks ago in our local paper, there were a series of articles on social media, and it is apparent that people are using them to find out more about people.  Linkedin is quickly become an online recruiting tool.

            And the opposite can be also true.  People who are looking for a job have another way to network and get themselves out there where people can see them at their leisure.  Although traditional methods of finding a job haven’t gone away (networking and recruiters), Linkedin has been added to the mix.

            Another person mentioned that his company uses Linkedin to keep an eye on their competition.  They take a careful look at how their competition markets themselves as well as what they may be launching in terms of new products. 

            Others use Linkedin to keep up with various organizations that may be affiliated with their industries.  Maybe they belong to professional groups through Linkedin or professional associations.  They use the forums to discuss new ideas, trends in the industry and even to ask advice. 

            Of course like all the other social media sites out there, it is only as good as the time you put into it.  If you join a networking group and never attend any of their meetings, you are not getting the full benefit of it.  The same goes for Linked in. 

At first you will have to spend quite a bit of time since you should get your profile up and running and explore the various groups you might want to join.  Once that is done, you should log in a few times a week and see what’s being posted.  Find a few things on Linkedin that are useful to you whether it is to keep in touch with colleagues, find out the trends in your industry, interact with your online organizations or recruit new talent to your company.

Social Media Soft Sell: Focus on Twitter

            So how do you market your business on 140 characters or less?  Good question.

            First of all, don’t skip on the profile photograph.  Many people use their corporate logo, but if you are a small business, you may be better off using a photo of yourself.  Says Laura Roeder in her article “Twitter Marketing…”, “Always make your Twitter photo a picture of you.  When you use your logo people feel like they are talking to a corporate 1-800 number.  When you use your picture they feel they are talking to a person.”

            Also, while you have to keep an appropriate tone, it’s okay to have small talk.  Some people I follow add tidbits about what they are doing during the day (giving seminars or going to a trade show) as well as when something good or unusual happens (received an award or published an article).  In addition, they may reTweet something they found interesting and related on another Tweet.  I find those Twitter accounts interesting, and I read them more than the truly formal corporate ones.

            You shouldn’t be stingy with your Twitter account.  Be sure to follow people in markets like your own.  Social media is about building relationships, so linking to others who offer interesting or related content helps.  Who knows?  Maybe a Web designer in Texas that I meet through Twitter may send a potential Maryland client to me just because I’m local, and he is not.  I have on occasion passed a potential client onto to someone I know who offered services more tailored that business’ need or was more local than I was.

            ReTweet the content regularly of people you follow.  You can be choosy and ReTweet ones you find useful, but be sure to do that.  It builds your exposure and goes along with the social aspect of – drum roll – social media.

            Most importantly, don’t let your Twitter account stay idle for long.  You should be adding tweets at least a few times a week.  If time is an issue, look for aggregators like HootSuite and set up accounts there.  Then you can go to HootSuite once a week, and plan all your Tweets at once and schedule them to show up when you want.  It may take a little organization, but it’s a good way to batch your tweet and be more efficient with your time.  Hootsuite can be used for many other accounts such as Facebook and Linkedin.  It’s one of many aggregators.

            And remember that this blog only scratched the surface.  There are whole books on how to market with Twitter.  I have by no means covered everything!

Social Media Soft Sell: Focus on Facebook

            Social media is an important component in marketing, but unlike print advertising and other more traditional forms of advertising, it’s harder to measure.

            For instance, if you are using Facebook to promote your site, it is more of a soft sell marketing tool.  It helps with branding and keeping your name out there.  It can also help drive traffic to your Web site and build an online reputation.  Sometimes it can bring in people who might not have found out about your business otherwise.  Look at Facebook primarily as an opportunity to interact with the public.

            Like I said, I have primarily experimented with promoting an organization I belong to (Carroll Technology Council).  So far, my approach with CTC and Facebook is something along the lines of “You-who, we’re out here, and we have some information for you.”  CTC is branding itself with Facebook postings.  I provide people with links to articles about technology and business both locally and across the US and some fun information as well.  I don’t try to reinvent the wheel – I find something interesting and find an article that has already been written and use it. Other sites will like that because we drive traffic to them.

CTC through me has a light touch except when it comes to our events.  Facebook has a wonderful feature for posting upcoming events, and since CTC has regular meetings and other events, I make good use of that feature.  I invite people once I post the event, and then along the way, I post photos and images that go along with that event.  For instance, for our annual dinner, I will post photos of where it is taking place, items that will be on the menu and even photographs of the menu items.  I stagger them, so that the event keeps popping up until the event takes place.

Once we have an event, we often post photographs of it as soon as we can.  People love to see who was there and even if they were photographed.  Once when we had a robotics team at a booth of ours, we posted video of the robots and high schoolers.  Of course, we could have posted them on YouTube and linked to it, but we kept is simple.

The thing that Facebook has done for CTC is keep the organization in people’s minds.  We try a variety of postings, and delight when one is interesting enough to elicit a response from someone.  We want to interact and engage our audience. 

Soft sell is the roll I see for many who use Facebook to promote their business.

If you’re interested, here’s 11 Business Benefits of Using Facebook Applications from a fellow blogger: http://www.marketing-jive.com/2007/09/11-business-benefits-of-using-facebook.html

Blogging and Plunging into Social Media

I’ve finally decided to join the world of blogging.  I don’t know about you, but in this day and age, I find there is so much going on, that it’s hard to keep up with all the changes.  I can see why so many people specialize now.

The buzz word these days is social media, and I must admit that it’s interesting, and I have been tinkering with it.  Initially, I just tried it personally to see what all the hype was about.  Then I ventured futher by using it to promote a group I belong to (Carroll Technology Council).  Like many business owners, I see the value in it, but I haven’t yet seen clearly how to measure its value.

As a Web designer, I often find that I provide some marketing services to clients through the keywords that are hidden through their sites.  And then I often end up dispensing some advice on how to market the Web site in terms of search engine optimization.  Now that the social media world is here to stay, it really matters that business owners try to educate themselves about social media and what it can or cannot do for a business.

My first few blogs will be about social media marketing.  Granted, I am new to this, but I’ve been experimenting, watching, and studying what others do.  I’m still reading what the experts have to say, but I keep in mind that those experts are only experts because they plunged into it earlier than the rest of us.  It’s a new media, and we all are still trying to figure it out.

If you have a question along the way, feel free to submit it.  The answer to it may end up being the topic of a future blog!