Why Embrace the Web For Your Business?
September 6, 2010
Why should you embrace the use of the Internet for your business?
It’s easy in times of economic crisis to start chopping marketing budgets, however we believe the web is a solution to survive economic hard times, not a budget item to cut. Simply put, the web is more important now than at any other time. Here are some reasons why:
- The web is cost effective. A typical website costs roughly the same as a large advertisement in a daily newspaper. A newspaper has a limited lifetime, whereas a website is longer term.
- The web adapts and grows with you. Using a Content Management System, you can build content over time. A website is organic in growth, not once-off like other traditional media.
- The web is timely. You can keep a website up-to-date far more frequently than traditional media. You can test and adapt your message daily, if need be.
- The web is measurable. Using traffic analysis, you can get a clear idea of the visitors to your website, and what they view. No other medium shows you such results based detail. What you can measure, you can test and improve.
- The web is improved communication. Using the web, you can engage in direct conversations with your customers and build a stronger, more loyal following.
- The web is now expected.
More and more businesses and consumers are using the web to find suppliers or products. Not having a website in this age is akin to not having a telephone. - The web reduces customer service costs.
How much of your staff time is taken up answering typical questions? Your website can answer these in more depth and with better results, over and over without the costs. - The web improves systems.
From downloadable forms, to internal and external communications, to streamlining payment and other systems, the web costs less than paper shuffling and telephone calls. - The web builds brand awareness.
People use the web to speak about products or services irrespective if you have a website. Using the web, you can join and engage the community. - The web is global.
You can sell to your town or city, or you can use the web to sell globally. The web is an exporter’s dream platform. - The web is local. If your market is local, you can exploit local search, mobile web, social media to build your local business. Google Places is one such local marketing resource.
- The web works whilst you sleep.
The web is 24 hours, seven days a week. Your office or shop isn’t. Why should you stop selling or marketing when you go home at the end of the day? - The web is faster.
Using blogs, email newsletters and campaigns means instant communication, not time lagged direct mail or traditional advertising. - Your competition is already here.
If you don’t have a website, we can assure you, your competition does. Why let them have the advantage?
It’s time to embrace the web!
If you currently have a website that needs embracing, or you require a new website, speak to your web company, or contact the team at CoolBalance Inc.
Invoicing Services
November 26, 2008
Send Invoices quickly, easily and 100% FREE using Invoice Journal
Simplifythis – Business Made Easy
online invoicing timetracking
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
34 Rules for Maverick Entrepreneurs
November 8, 2008
Here’s a list I picked up from Yanik Silver’s Sales Page for his Maverick Business Insider
I think this is a useful set of rules and so I wanted to share them. Enjoy
- It’s got to be a BIG idea that you, your team and your customers can “get” in seconds.
- Strive to create 10x — 100x in value for any price you charge. Your rewards are always proportionate to the value you provide.
- You must charge a premium price so you have a large margin to provide an extraordinary value & experience.
- Provide a ‘Reason Why’ customers should do business with you and pay you a premium.
- Get paid before you deliver your product or service. And when possible figure out how to create recurring revenue from transactions.
- You get to make the rules for your business. Don’t let industry norms dictate how you’ll work or who you’ll work with.
- Create your business around your life instead of settling for your life around your business.
- Consistently and constantly force yourself to focus on the ‘critically few’ proactive activities that produce exponential results. Don’t get caught up in minutia & bullshit.
- Seek to minimize start-up risk but have maximum upside potential.
- Get your idea out there as fast as possible even if it’s not quite ready by setting must-hit deadlines. Let the market tell you if you have a winner or not. If not — move on and fail forward fast! If it’s got potential — then you can make it better.
- Find partners and team members who are strong where you are weak and appreciate being paid on results.
- Your reputation always counts. Honor your obligations and agreements.
- Never, ever get paid based on hours worked.
- Leverage your marketing activities exponentially by using direct response methods and testing.
- Measure and track your marketing so you know what’s working and what’s not.
- Bootstrap. Having too much capital leads to incredible waste and doing things using conventional means.
- Your partners and employees actions are their true core — not what they tell you.
- Keep asking the right questions to come up with innovative solutions. “How?”, “What?”, “Where?”, “Who Else?” & “Why?” open up possibilities.
- You’ll never have a perfect business and you’ll never be totally “done”. Deal with it.
- Focus most of your time on your core strengths and less time working in areas you suck at.
- Make it easier for customers to buy by taking away the risk of the transaction by guaranteeing what you do in a meaningful way.
- Always have something else to sell (via upsell, cross-sell, follow-up offer, etc) whenever a transaction takes place. The hottest buyer in the world is one who just gave you money.
- Always go back to your existing customers with exceptional offers and reasons they should give you more money. It’s 5x less expensive to sell to happy customers than go find new ones.
- However the flip side is – fire your most annoying customers. They’ll be replaced with the right ones.
- The marketplace and competitors are always trying to beat you down to a commodity. Don’t let that happen.
- Develop and build your business’s personality that stands out. People want to buy from people.
- Create your own category so you can be first in the consumer’s mind.
- Go the opposite direction competitors are headed — you’ll stand out.
- Mastermind and collaborate with other smart entrepreneurs if they have futures that are even bigger than their present.
- Celebrate your victories. It’s too easy to simply move on to your next goal without acknowledging and appreciating the ‘win’.
- Make your business AND doing business with you FUN!
- Do the unexpected before and after anything goes wrong so customers are compelled to ‘share your story’.
- Get a life! Business and making money are important but your life is the sum total of your experiences. Go out and create experiences & adventures so you can come back renewed and inspired for your next big thing.
- Give back! Commit to taking a % of your company’s sales and make a difference. If this becomes a habit like brushing your teeth pretty soon the big checks with lots of zeros won’t be scary to write. If you think you can’t donate a percentage of your sales simply raise your price.
The 4-Hour WorkWeek
April 5, 2008
The 4-Hour WorkWeek by Timothy Ferriss is an inspiring book. His basic premise is that everyone should design their own life and their own lifestyle. Figure that out, and then build a plan to achieve it now, rather than at retirement.
There are a number of interesting points, from taking mini-retirements every year (or few months), to using outsourcing to free up your time, to making less money from a business if it means giving yourself more time for other things (hence paying someone else to do something). Read more
The Entrepreneurial Imperative by Carl J. Schramm
March 29, 2008
Well, this has been an interesting and thoughtful book. It is somewhat academic, yet filled with little inspirations for business and self-employed. So, what is it.
It’s more or less a book form of an essay, seeking to show that the best promise for the future for the United States (and the world for that matter) is “entrepreneurial capitalism”. Which is a fancy way of saying encouraging entrepreneurs, both nationally, and inside large corporations. How to do this, teach more about running a business in school, the basics, like basic accounting, risk assessment.
Read more
Know-How by Ram Charan
March 29, 2008
Another excellent business book. I would highly recommend this to anyone running a company, a business, or planning on moving up the corporate ladder. If you want to know what to learn, and how to be, to be a top executive and to make your company successful, this is the place to start.
In short, it’s about your people skills and your own personal skills and vision and how to maximize them. Read more
Ready, Fire, Aim by Michael Masterson
March 29, 2008
Here’s what I learned from the book. I’m really most interested in Stage One, getting started or infancy. There is lot’s more in the book and I’d recommend reading it. You can pick it up from Amazon if you are interested.
$0 to $100,000,000.00 in not time flat. That’s the promise of the book, and I think it delivers.
Blogging for Fun and Profit
December 22, 2007
I’ve been blogging off and on (off mostly) for a while now. I’ve also taken a couple of courses from Simpleology and been fairly impressed. So now that they are offering a course on blogging, I wanted to mention it, and check it out for myself.
Blogging, and podcasting will be a cornerstone of my new marketing campaign along with teleseminars. Together I want to create a resource for Squirrel POS users to help them make better use of their system. Read more
Help for Project Management
August 14, 2007
I’ve been looking at various online tools to help me run my software contracting and product development business. There are a lot of pieces, and none of the online applications make me happy yet.
I’m also dissatisfied with having to bring so many disparate pieces together. So far I’m managing by using a Web Desktop, www.protopage.com to keep links in one convenient place. Read more
Gift cards entice shoppers to spend more according to UW researcher
February 2, 2007
I saw this article about the psychology of gift card spending today in my alumni newsletter (shameless plug here, U of W is an excellent university). Do visit “here to read the article.”:http://alumni.uwaterloo.ca/alumni/e-newsletter/2007/february/gift_cards.html
The main point is that people don’t view gift card cash as completely real, so even if they can get cash back, their natural tendency is to want to spend more than is on the card, topping up with their own money as it were. Read more
