2009 New Year’s Web Site Advice – Change Your Site!!
Do you want your Web site to show up in Google and Yahoo? Higher than your competitors? For the new year, why not institute a simple change management process for your site. You’ll be amazed at the results!
This is not a complex process. Simply change a paragraph of text content on the home page of your Web site once a month. Put in a tip of the month section, or a product coupon, or anything that makes sense for your business. But have it be something you can change every month. A good Web site developer can do this for you in about 15 minutes a month. If it’s a text change it should take 5 minutes a month.
Be sure to include the keywords in this paragraph for your Google search.
So take a little time early this year and think of ways you can make a simple monthly change to your Web site as a way to garner BIG results in Google and Yahoo.
How high do you want to go this year?
Chris Nastav, KC Web Specialists, LLC. www.kcwebspecialists.com
Experts in how business gets done on the Internet (913) 908.5642
Leadership Styles – There’s More Than Just One!
Many managers mistakenly assume that leadership style is based on personality rather than choice. Instead of choosing the one style that suits their temperament, they should ask which style best addresses the demands of a particular situation.
There are six basic leadership styles. Each derives from different emotional intelligence competencies, works best in particular situations, and affects the organizational climate in different ways.
1. The coercive style. This “Do what I say” approach can be very effective in a turnaround situation, a natural disaster, or when working with problem employees. But in most situations, coercive leadership inhibits the organization’s flexibility and dampens employees’ motivation.
2. The authoritative style. An authoritative leader takes a “Come with me” approach: she states the overall goal but gives people the freedom to choose their own means of achieving it. This style works especially well when a business is adrift. It is less effective when the leader is working with a team of experts who are more experienced than he is.
3. The affiliative style. The hallmark of the affiliative leader is a “People come first” attitude. This style is particularly useful for building team harmony or. morale. But its exclusive focus on praise can allow poor performance to go uncorrected. Also, affiliative leaders rarely offer advice, which often leaves employees in a quandary.
4. The democratic style. This style’s impact on organizational climate is not as high as you might imagine. By giving workers a voice in decisions, democratic leaders build organizational flexibility and responsibility and help generate fresh ideas. But sometimes the price is endless meetings and confused employees who feel leaderless.
5. The pacesetting style. A leader who sets high performance standards and exemplifies them himself has a very positive impact on employees who are self-motivated and highly competent. But other employees tend to feel overwhelmed by such a leader’s demands for excellence—and to resent his tendency to take over a situation.
6. The coaching style. This style focuses more on personal development than on immediate work-related tasks. It works well when employees are already aware of their weaknesses and want to improve, but not when they are resistant to changing their ways.
The more styles a leader has mastered, the better. In particular, being able to switch among the authoritative, affiliative, democratic, and coaching styles as conditions dictate creates the best organizational climate and optimizes business performance.
What’s your style?
Michael Shapiro. Dynamic Management Solutions, Inc.
Could Recession Be A Good Thing?
I was recently talking to a life-long girlfriend of mine and we reflected on how our greatest self-growth spurs happened in what we call “hard times”. I mean the times that felt uncertain, difficult, uncomfortable, when we didn’t know in what direction to turn, and when we felt we had to struggle with life. We reflected on how if it weren’t for the hard times, we would not be where we are today. And we are both in a good place. The hard times pushed us out of our comfort zones; they forced us to discover our strengths, capabilities, resourcefulness, courage, and resolution. We came out changed, with new perspectives and new understanding. So we thanked the hard times for giving us opportunities to discover ourselves.
In my conversations with clients and friends I hear huge concerns about the recession. Business owners worry if and how it might impact their business, if clients will be as ready to spend their money, if the industry they are in will survive recession, if they will survive. There seems to be a growing sense of insecurity and apprehension. Knowing what I know about hard times, I’m not worried about recession. It will push some of us out of our comfort zones, it will make us adapt and find new ways of making money and maybe even force us into doing what we truly enjoy. It will teach us new things about our world and ourselves. We will come out wiser and with stronger trust in our own capabilities.
Today I invite you to open up to the gifts that recession might offer you. If you worry about not surviving in your industry, maybe it’s time to consider some big changes? If you worry about loosing some of your customers, maybe it’s time to think about expanding your sources of income by adding new products or services? Think how you and your business could blossom in the midst of recession. How will YOU adapt? How much wiser will YOU come out? Ask yourself these questions and if the answers are not showing up yet, don’t worry. I will quote after Andrea J. Lee: “Think of the questions you can’t answer yet as stimulants in your mind causing you to fire neurons you didn’t know you had. Like bits of sand in an oyster, those questions are the uncomfortable beginnings of new pearls of wisdom for you and your future”.
Be well.
Margaret Moczkowski/Certified Business Coach Momentum Coaching www.YourBusinessEvolved.comFor all you entrepreneurs who feel overwhelmed by lots of business ideas, plans, possibilities and crave focus and purposeful action, please help yourself to a FREE Business Action Plan Workbook I developed to help my clients wrap their minds around their projects, big and small. This tool will evolve you and your business to the next level. To receive your free Business Action Plan Workbook please go to: http://www.momentumcoach.net/BusinessActionPlan.html
Spend your Website Dollars Wisely
Folks, if you have a limited Website budget, spend most of those limited dollars getting folks to your Website and not on your actual Website. Yes, you must make a good first impression, and yes you must provide the information they are looking for, but it is not necessary to have a Flashy Website to accomplish both those tasks. Too many business owners look at their Website as the end all be all solution for getting clients.
It’s really just an extension of your overall marketing plan. Ask yourself before you spend any money on a Website, “Where does my Website fit within my marketing plan”.
If the answer is, I don’t have a marketing plan, then definitely spend as little as possible on your Website.
Yes you need a Website. But, having a visually stunning Website that does everything including baking cookies, really won’t do anything for your bottom line if you don’t have a plan for getting folks to your site. Too many people when they build their Website budget XXX number of dollars for their Website. When the site is done, they then have no money left for advertising their site. Build it, and they will come, usually doesn’t work. You have to get out there and get them to your site. That costs money. Money being your cash or your time. Either way it’s a cost to your company.
How much money are you spending on advertising vs your Website design?
Chris Nastav, KC Web Specialists, LLC. www.kcwebspecialists.com
Experts in how business gets done on the Internet (913) 908.5642
How to Work With Friends and Family
OK – you’ve seen this before. You hired a friend because she needed a job and you had a position open. You reasoned that the personal relationship would make it easier because the trust was there and you’ve always liked her. Two months later, it’s a very different picture.
Down the street, it’s a similar scenario. Your wife asked you to find a place for her nephew. He hasn’t had much experience since graduating from college with a degree in English. Unfortunately he comes to work two hours late three out of five days a week and he doesn’t seem to respond to the “hints” you’ve made.
Both of these employers feel trapped by a friendship or family relationship. The good news is that it’s possible both the relationship and the employment situation can be salvaged. For this to happen, the employers need to do several things:
- Be clear on your expectations. If you don’t have a job description, write one. Be concrete about your expectations by making sure there’s a metric to use in evaluating performance.
- If you have a job description and metrics exist, prepare to have the “difficult conversation.” This is where you clearly state what isn’t working and what you expect to begin happening. The most important part of the conversation, however, is the consequences if the employee’s performance doesn’t change.
- To be clear, this isn’t a one-way dialogue. You’ll want to listen to your employee so that expectations can be aligned.
The bottom line is that your responsibility to your business has to take priority. If it doesn’t, the consequences can be profound. If you allow your nephew to be consistently late, you won’t be able to require punctuality from your other employees. If you don’t discuss your disappointment with your friend, it will seep into the relationship in other ways placing the relationship in jeopardy.
In other words, you must be clear about your role and what you expect as well as what your employee can expect to receive.
Do you have a friend or relative that’s not working out?
Michael Shapiro, Dynamic Management Solutions, Inc.
Creative Marketing Saves Money, Drives Business
I’ve worked in marketing in some form or another for almost 15 years and have been the victim of economic down times 
(i.e. layoffs) because most companies see that as the first, most expendable part of their business. But….they’re wrong!
If you sit and think it really makes more sense to make a marketing push when things are slower in order to keep your name out there. When you stop communicating to your customers, discontinue special offers/discounts and such they are probably going to head off in another direction, or worse….think you’re out of business!! Sure you may have to make some concessions on pricing (as I mentioned in a previous post), but isn’t it worth it to have some sort of sales then none at all? Yeah, now you see it, don’t you?
The bottom line is that you just have to become a bit more creative in how you stretch your marketing dollars. Here are some tips to evaluate where you’ve been and where you would like to go in the next few quarters:
1. Look at your overall marketing budget (you do have a marketing budget, right? If not, then look at what you spent this last year on all of your marketing and use that number).
2. Break out where you spent money – PR, advertising, direct mail, sponsorships, promotions/cross-promotions, even signage, website (SEO) and email campaigns can be included here. Anything and everything that contributes to marketing your business.
3. Categorize each one by the amount of money you’ve spent – the most expensive being numero uno.
4. Now, determine how effective each element was in driving business (I’d list these as A, B, C, and so on)
5. Look at the year to come – have you planned your marketing calendar for the year including promotions, seasonal sales, couponing, direct mail, PR opps, etc.? You should.
6. Now weigh your upcoming year against the most effective forms of marketing from 2008. How do they fit together? Is there a new, affordable option you haven’t considered to reach customers?
The point of this exercise to get you to really think about where you’ve been putting your money to market your business, and if there’s any “fat” to cut for 2009. Maybe you now become much more targeted in your campaign and take advantage of DIY PR but hire a consultant for a fraction of what you would pay to have them do the work or you create more promotions that are really unique to your industry and market, and so on. Sometimes it helps to step back and ask the question “what would I be interested in, no really, what would bring me to the door of my own business to spend money right now?”
In unusual economic times it can pay to be unusual yourself, but remember, you also have to communicate it to current and potential customers if anyone’s going to cash in on it. Sometimes, all it takes is one bright idea. It’s funny how challenging times can force us to generate something new for our business that we might not have seen or considered before, mostly because there was no need to until now.
More to come on this…..in the meantime, send me your questions or unique marketing ideas that might help others remain positive and excited about their business even when times are challenging. Remember: even if the economy is “slow” people are still buying….they’re just weighing their options looking for the best quality alternative to meet their needs. Be that alternative!
Jennifer Fortney, Cascade Communications, jfortney@cascadecomms.com
A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words….About Your Business
Your brand, or rather your business identity, is probably the single most important thing to your business. It is the life blood of your business. It can determine its longevity and the consumer’s ability to identify your business.
Example: Think Target. Notice how the company doesn’t even bother
putting up the word “Target” anymore. You see the target logo
and just know. That’s where you want to be with your customers,
in time.
To create a meaningful brand, you must first recognize the strength and position of what makes your product or service different, and use that as the focus for a powerful message.
Having a successful “brand” in the market today is the most critical element of communicating to your customers. To do so you must find a compelling connection that meets the needs of your audience and express it meaningfully, simply, and uses the K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid) principal. Then you have to translate it into a powerfully good design. (Investing in a good designer to do so is one of the most important things you just need to do).
When we meet with clients the first thing we discuss is the business name, concept and positioning. You have to make sure that your company name is “buttoned up”. Protect it, register it, and make sure it is easy to understand. Once you have that done you can begin developing a visual design to communicate your business’ mission. But don’t forget to copyright and protect it as well. The last thing you want is someone else coming up with something similar and confusing customers.
At JT Clark, we use the 30 second test, like seeing a billboard going 65 mph. Can you drive by a billboard on the highway and clearly see your name and positioning and understand it? Test your business card, do a “drive by” and check to see if the name and supporting statement really communicates quickly. (Tip: Define the key messages for your business and determine your elevator pitch – then come up with a way to translate it to your business card).
Brand, creating and building one, can be complicating as the term is used not just to refer to, say your logo design, but also “branding” that in the minds of consumers; building recognition and awareness about your company – just like Target has done. But that’s marketing, of which you will get great tips on here. The most important thing to remember is that your brand is what sets you apart. Take care and time to develop something meaningful to both you and your customers; something memorable that really is the face of your business; the first impression people will receive of who you are, what you do and can determine sales.
Julie Clark, JT Clark, 847-409-7170, julie@jtclark.com, www.jtclark.agency
Thriving Business in Recession
So it is an official recession, some even talk of depression. Whatever we call it, it’s here and we can feel its effects everywhere. Big corporations falling, small business owners worried, employees concerned about their jobs. Less people shopping in spite of cut retail prices at stores.
So what’s a small business owner to do? You really have two choices here: listen to the news, get depressed, worry, see this recession as a black hole pulling you in or…
You can decide to accept what you are experiencing, learn from it, readjust your business and your attitude and strengthen your marketing efforts. It really boils down to this: Some businesses will fall, some will grow and thrive – in spite of recession. And what will make a difference is the owner’s attitude, their belief in success and a positive vision for the future. And what follows is their willingness to do whatever it takes to survive and thrive.
What can you do to cultivate the success attitude in the down times? I can suggest several things, pick the ones that resonate with you and would serve you well:
· Write out your success vision and connect with it daily before you start work. We attract things we think about. If you are spending your mental energy on worrying about the bad stuff that can happen to you and your business, you will get exactly that.
· Revisit your business and marketing plan (or create one if you don’t have it). The landscape has changed, things are not the same as they were even a few months ago. Old opportunities might be gone, new ones have emerged. Restate your goals and redecide how you are going to go after them.
· Commit to doing only those marketing and sales activities that produce results. If what you’ve been doing lately is not getting you where you want, you need a new plan of action. Decide on your core marketing activities and commit to spending a specific amount of time on weekly basis actually doing them. In other words, do whatever it really takes.
· Go on the “news diet” – reduce to minimum or to zero your exposure to bad economy news for a specific period of time, let’s say for a week. This is done so you can get some rest and renenergize yourself when you are preparing your new business approach. Believe me, you can live without news for a few days, the world will understand.
· Choose your success environment. This is guided by the same principle as the “news diet” – you become what you listen to. Choose to spend time only with people who share your enthusiasm and who add to your positive energy. If you have people in your life who drain you, limit your contact with them. You will do your business a favor and you might do them a favor by not affirming them in their doom and gloom outlook.
Recession or no recession, the world will go on. It’s your choice how you will participate in it.
Margaret Moczkowski
Business Coach for Entrepreneurs
Momentum Coaching
Running Your Business During an Economic Down Time
We’re in a recession, a deep one and neither the government nor the economists can say when it will end. I don’t have to tell you that business is tight and decision-makers are avoiding all but the most urgent and necessary purchases.
One of the few people I know who’s business is booming is the Repo Man down the block – but he’s been shot at twice this week. Is it all doom and gloom or are there steps you can take to make it through?
Here are a few things I’ve seen work in the past:
- Be open with your employees. Don’t keep them in the dark as to business conditions. Too many “closed-door” meetings can really spook a company’s workforce.
- Ask your employees for suggestions. Make them part of the “solutions team”. They will often know where corners can be cut or duplicate procedures eliminated. Your employees are not just your employees but your business partners. There’s no one who wants to see you stay afloat more than your employees.
- If you have to make workforce cuts, do it rationally and compassionately. Of course you hate laying people off – you’re not a “bad” person – you’re a business person with the responsibility for keeping the enterprise going.
- Work with your vendors. They’re in the same position you are. Instead of taking 60 days to pay an invoice, offer part now and part later. Again it’s being straight with all of your stakeholders.
I’m not advocating 100%, unfiltered information, but something that will communicate an authentic disclosure and a willingness / desire to work together. These are opportunities to forge stronger relationships with existing stakeholders and new ones with others.
What are your ideas for making it to the other side?
Michael Shapiro, Dynamic Management Solutions, Inc.
How To Get People to Join Your Online/eMail Newsletter
Here’s a very simple, easy way to get more names for your on-line newsletter. Assuming you are asking people on your Website to join your newsletter, consider this simple way of adjusting the content around that field so more people actually sign up for your newsletter. Instead of the text around the field saying “Sign Up for our Monthly Newsletter” change it to read… “Receive two special reports on how you can grow your business in a down economy when you sign up for our free newsletter”
Now you don’t have to write special reports, that’s just an example. But to get them to sign up, you should give them something besides the promise of great advice. Give them something tangible. A discount on thier first use of your service, or a free sample product, etc… Give them something to entice them to fill in that little blank. Everyone likes to get something for nothing. You’ll find a lot more people will be filling in that little text field if you do.
What are you going to give me besides another monthly email by joining your newsletter?
Chris Nastav, KC Web Specialists, LLC, www.kcwebspecialists.com
Experts in how business gets done on the Internet (913) 908.5642
New Year, New News Opportunities
It’s hard to believe that 2009 is right around the corner and will be here in the blink of an eye, but it will and you need to start looking ahead to your PR campaign.
New years bring about new opportunities, trends and resolve. While you may make a resolution to “stick to your PR plan” this year, here are some steps to put in place now to ensure you will really accomplish positive press for your business this year:
- Consider the ways your business will grow and change this year. Are there any new story angles for you can go after?
- Look at the calendar and see if there are any particular monthly/weekly observances you can tie in with (i.e. Breast Cancer Awareness Month)
- Outline your promotions for the year. Are there PR opportunities here?
- Write out your new story angles
- Make a list of new media to approach for your business (easier to stick to a Top 20 “wish list”)
- Build a timeline of your activities month by month to stay organized, motivated and encouraged to generate awareness. Don’t overwhelm yourself. Creating a timeline keeps tasks manageable. More importantly you can denote media deadlines to ensure that you get information out in a timely fashion for consideration.
- Stick to your plan!!! Remain determined to make it happen and it will come to fruition.
- Hire an expert. If things are going well for you and 2009 looks bountiful, then consider outsourcing your PR functions to free up time you need to put towards everyday business functions. Someone who can devote their time to generating PR for you can not only create the story opportunities for your business, but utilize their contacts, expertise and time to benefit YOU.
What are you planning to do with your PR in 2009? Any unique tips and thoughts you’d like to share with readers? Share them here.
Jennifer Fortney, Cascade Communications
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