Website Budget versus Marketing Budget?

This is going to be a relatively short post, but one that hopefully inspires some long thoughts on the topic.

A Website should complement your marketing plan, a Website by itself is not a marketing plan. With that said…….

In my humble opinion, when you are budgeting for a Website, always spend more time and money getting people to your Website through marketing than you do on your actual Website.

Spending thousands on a stunning site with spectacular graphics, functionality and pages of awe inspiring product information is a waste of money if you don’t have an equal or greater budget of time and money planned to get people to your site.

Please share with us how you market your Website.

Thanks,

Chris Nastav, KC Web Specialists, LLC. www.kcwebspecialists.com
Experts in how business gets done on the Internet (913) 908.5642

SBD Welcomes New Finance Contributor, Rosemary Peavler

We at Small Business Daily are excited to welcome Finance expert Rosemary Peavler as a new contributor.  Her background and experience is unrivaled.   “My finance background is pretty broad – corporate, small business, investments, entrepreneurial finance………you name it, I’ve probably written about it and studied it!”

As the writer/editor/producer for the small business finance website for About.com – a subsidiary of the New York Times – she brings 26 years of finance experience to our small business and entrepreneur followers.   You can check out her fast growing site at  http://bizfinance.about.com.

Rosemary has been a freelance writer in finance for many years, and her background includes teaching as a college professor of finance for a long time and holds a doctorate in finance.

So, we’ve answered many of your queries about finance and tax issues bybringing Rosemary onboard.  We’re so happy she said yes!!  I hope you will tap her with your questions and comments.

Jennifer Fortney

Corporate Mishap is Small Business Lesson, Part I

This year has seen employees’ ability to negatively effect their employer through Twitter, YouTube, etc. It’s important for small businesses to remember that they are not immune from these same things happening, but…

how you deal with it will determine the impact on customer perception

Here’s a good brief read from “Bulldog Reporter”, a PR industry publication. Tell me what you would do in a similar situation.

Issue Date: Daily ‘Dog – April 21, 2009, Domino’s Crisis Teaches Valuable Twitter Lesson: Major Brands Discovering They Must Respond — and Quickly Domino’s was late but eventually delivered.

Amazon.com shut like a book. And CNN focused on the good news. When the three major brands engaged with their Web-savvy fans and critics in separate incidents last week, their responses demonstrated how corporations are still learning how to control their messages — and reputations — in a fast-twitch online world. The mixed track record so far shows that fluency in the evolving language of digital public relations comes easier to some companies than others, the LA Times reports.

Last week, Domino’s was handed a PR nightmare when a video showed up online showing two employees laughing as they prepared food in a deliberately unsanitary way. The video quickly garnered hundreds of thousands of views. Domino’s initial instinct was to try to dispose of the situation quietly by responding only to concerned consumers who had already seen the video, rather than risk broadening its exposure by making a public statement. But chatter about the problem spilled over into Twitter, whose expansive micro-messaging network is becoming an online circulatory system for news, pumping information between media organs, consumers and businesses themselves, report Times writers David Sarno and Alana Semuels.

The company posted a YouTube response of its own and even established a Twitter account to answer direct questions from customers. “What we’ve learned is if something happens in this medium, it’s going to automatically jump to the next,” Domino’s spokesman Tim McIntyre told the Times. “So we might as well talk to everybody at the same time.”

At CNN, as Ashton Kutcher edged out the cable TV network last week to become the first to attract 1 million followers to his Twitter account, an odd quirk of the much-hyped race was overshadowed: CNN hadn’t actually owned its account until a few days earlier. For more than two years, the CNNBrk account (for breaking news) had been created, maintained and run by a 25-year-old British Web developer who just wanted a way to beam short news alerts to his cellphone.

But when CNN found out that James Cox had appropriated its name and content, it took a direction that might seem a bit surprising for a major media company. Instead of suing Cox or trying to shut down the account, CNN quietly hired him to run it — and then acquired it last week when Cox was visiting the company’s Atlanta headquarters.

“We’ve been managing the feed through him,” said KC Estenson, the head of CNN’s online operation, noting the huge increase in the number of Twitter followers since the November election. “As Twitter took off and became more prominent, we decided it was time to take our engagement and make it a marriage,” Estenson told the Times.

When Amazon was faced with its own consumer outcry last week, it decided to forgo the social media route. Without warning, many gay- and lesbian-themed books began disappearing from the site’s search results and sales rankings. The Twittersphere instantly saw red, accusing the company of discrimination and censorship and demanding a response. But Amazon stayed mostly mum. It waited most of a day only to cite an unspecified “glitch,” and when that vagueness only fomented the outrage, it released a second clipped statement blaming a “cataloging error.”

But Twitter abhors a vacuum, and commenters rapidly filled Amazon’s silence with boycott threats, petitions and caustic accusations — an outcome that suggests that the growth of social media may be driving up the cost of inaction.

Yet engaging with consumers can be dangerous too. Skittles learned that last month when it invited users to post Twitter-like comments on a page that prominently displayed its logo. Among the positive comments were a variety of colorful ones as well. By giving users the freedom to post their own messages alongside its advertising, Skittles had opened itself up to a kind of online vandalism that seems hard to get away from.

“There’s a mob mentality to social tools where people quickly try to put fuel on the fire, really encouraging brand damage and damage to individuals,” Jeremiah Owyang, a senior analyst at Forrester Research, told the Times. Every brand misstep can spur social-media denizens these days, he said, which affects even those companies that don’t actively participate. To stay safe in the social media minefield, he said, brands need to make sure to secure their own domain names in the various online environments — before any squatters do — and then start to build a community there. Then, when a crisis happens, online or off, brands can then use that community to their advantage.

Jennifer Fortney, Cascade Communications and SmallBizPRMadeEasy

What You Might Learn From An Exit Interview

Want to hear unfiltered feedback about your company? Try using an Exit Interview. This exit survey focuses on the issues that come into play when an employee decides to leave a company. The survey will help employers understand the factors that are involved. It focuses on issues dealing with the manager, job, and overall satisfaction.

Name:

Hire Date:

Resignation Date:

Department:

Manager:

Briefly indicate what factors first caused you to consider leaving the company: Briefly indicate what factors triggered your leaving the company at this time: What is your overall opinion of the company?

Please rate the following using this scale: 1 – excellent 2 – good 3 – fair 4 – poor

[___] Benefits

[___] Pay

[___] Recruiting Process

[___] Orientation Process

[___] Initial Training

[___] Interest in Employees

[___] Growth Opportunities

[___] Ongoing Training

[___] Physical Working Conditions

[___] Keeping Employees Informed

[___] Treating Employees Fairly

[___] Upholding Company Values

[___] Morale Overall

[___] Open-Door Policy

[___] Morale in Your Area

[___] Performance Review Process

[___] Helpfulness/Knowledge of Human Resources

[___] Medical/Health Benefits

[___] Other Benefits

[___] Cooperation among All Employees and Management

[___] Equipment/Resources to Do Job Properly

[___] Recognition for Job Well Done

[___] Incentive/Bonus Program

[___] Communication of Internal Opportunities

[___] Company’s Concern with Quality and Excellence

[___] Overall Company Image

Please comment on any 1 or 2 scores in the space below:

Please rate your manager using this scale: 1 – always 2 – usually 3 – seldom 4 – never

[___] Resolved complaints and concerns promptly.

[___] Listened to suggestions.

[___] Encouraged cooperation.

[___] Treated you fairly.

[___] Provided leadership.

[___] Clearly communicated expectations.

[___] Was honest.

[___] Gave performance feedback.

[___] Coached, trained, and developed you.

[___] Recognized accomplishments.

[___] Provided appropriate and challenging assignments.

[___] Built teamwork.

Please comment on any 1 or 2 scores in the space below:

Do you have another job? If so, how does it compare with your last job here?

What did you like most about your last job?

What did you like least about your last job?

What could have been done to encourage you not to leave?

Was this made known to your manager?

Why did you originally join the company?

What did you like most about the company?

What did you like least about the company?

Would you be open to the idea of returning to our company?

Why/Why not?

Do you have any objection to our sharing your responses with management?

Do you think the company lives up to its values? __Yes __No

If no, which values did we not live up to, and how can we change for the better?

What other suggestions do you have that will help the company improve?

What suggestions do you have that will help the company keep good people?

Any other comments you would like to add at this time:

Michael Shapiro – Dynamic Management Solutions, Inc.

Business Contracts

Last week, we talked about the contracts you enter into when purchasing your house. In the business world, you life fills up with contracts very quickly.

If you own your own business, the biggest contract you will enter into will likely involve the space in which you operate. That will be a lease or purchase contract. Those are similar to the contracts we talked about last week but much more complicated. In the residential sense, you commonly have a one year contract that may or may not include utilities. Commercial spaces generally require multi-year contracts, with provisions having to do with payment of taxes and variable rents based on a number of factors, including your revenues.

Outside of your rental contract, you will have employee contracts if you have staff and you may have a contract with your business partner. This is usually called a shareholder agreement or operating agreement.

And, of course, every widget you sell or buy comes with a contract. You may not know it, but when you go to your local office supply store to buy paper clips, you are entering into a contract that comes with warranties and conditions.

Contracts are what make the business world go around. While the “legalese” may look useless and complicated, each word is there for a very specific reason.

Brian Fons, Corporate Creations. Brian.Fons@corpcreations.com or check out my Podcast in iTunes.

Think Outside the Box For Marketing Success

People often ask me what my number one tip for small businesses is and that is:

DIFFERENTIATE your company in every way

Some of you might ask “why?  Things are going well for me right now.  If it ain’t broke….”  Well, my answer to that is the same as the one many of the experts on Small Business Daily will offer:  if you don’t work to differentiate your business it will stall.  You will stop growing and your marketing programs will become stale.  Eventually, you will be out of business.

It’s a harsh truth and while I’ll leave the business planning aspects to Clayton and Michael, I do want to discuss what happens to your marketing if you don’t differentiate:  Nothing, zip, nada.  You might as well throw money down the toilet.

Marketing your business is the most crucial element to business success and one that requires endurance and stamina.  If you don’t realize that right up front you aren’t going to get anywhere because, well, it takes a llllloooonnnngggg time to build brand recognition with customers and the industry.

The power of differentiating your business from competitors, creating new trends and becoming an industry leader is that it gives you stories to tell, whether that’s with public relations, advertising or social media.  If you’re like everyone else why does it matter where customers go?  Eventually they’ll waste a lot of time, money and energy finding what business is trustworthy and beneficial on their own, but by communicating your unique offerings upfront you can cut to the chase for them….straight in your door.

Remember:  What you say about your business is as important as where you say it

Think about it this way, a journalist is not interested in writing the same story over and over again.  They want new angles, new trends and new innovative businesses.  So, if you want to generate PR for your business you have to make sure you have a fresh, new story to tell.

I say it over and over, but the beauty of small businesses it their ability to be flexible, creative and innovative.  You can’t stop with one version of your product.  You have to keep adding to it, making it stronger, better.  Customers are looking, especially right now, for the biggest bang for their buck.   You need to continue thinking ahead to expansion – new product development, business relationships/partnerships and increased marketing.

To make your business grow:

1. review your business model and differentiate against competitors, meet the standards of technology people expect
2. you have to communicate what you’re doing,
3. make it relevant
4. grow product and service offerings
5. be dilligent
6. always be thinking ahead of your competition and industry
7. work everyday to meet and predict the needs of customers

There’s a reason why companies that bank on a single product idea eventually fail.  The company stops being relevant when they fail to grow and differentiate.  See business development and marketing go hand-in-hand in helping entrepreneurs like you achieve success.

I want to hear from you:  What are you doing to differentiate your business?  What unique ideas have you created to stand out in the crowd?

Jennifer Fortney, Cascade Communications and SmallBizPRMadeEasy.com; Twitter @SmallBizPRXpert

Small Business Don’t Twitter your Time Away!

Here a Twitter,
There a Twitter,
Everywhere a Twitter, Twitter. 

Twitter “comments” seems to be everywhere don’t they?

So before I actually talk about what Twitter is, maybe the first step is to consider how did you actually hear about Twitter.

Did you see it on the news mentioned about Twittering a huge event like a presidential election campaign, CNN current news, the last holes at the Master’s Golf Tournament, the finish line at the Tour de’ France, etc. Or, maybe you heard it from some company knocking at your door wanting to sell you online social media services because your business is going to get left in the dust if you don’t buy their services?  Or maybe you heard it from your kids or that relative/friend out looking for a job because they were just laid off. Finally, you might have heard people say, “What the heck is Twitter?”

With the all above thoughts in mind now ask yourself this…………..

Have your heard your customers ask you “Why aren’t you using Twitter because “I” your customer want you to be using it?”

Folks, are your customers asking you to start using Twitter?

At it’s foundation, Twitter is a Web tool used to have online conversations about something happening right here, right now. Whether it’s Twittering about a news event, or maybe some store that made a gaff of some kind in their policy. The more hype, drama, and excitement the event has the better. Did you know Twitter comments, or Tweets, are limited to 140 characters at a time. So it truly is a quick flurry of words being thrown around between people saying, Wow check this out. Once the excitement is over, the conversation thread basically dies and people move on to the next exciting thing they seem to have time to check out.

So now, as a business owner, ask yourself a couple questions if you’re considering Twitter.

1.      Is my target market population, my core customer base, are they using Twitter?

2.      Do I have something going on in my business, right here, right now that I can use to market to those currently on Twitter. Something that is going to generate excitement, buzz or drama in a way that the word spreads to all Twitter users for the briefest span of time in a way that I can capitalize on somehow for my business.

Ultimately, Twitter takes time and a thorough, thorough marketing plan to have any hope of being a success tool for a small business. Don’t waste your precious time on Twitter if you don’t have it as an integral part of your overall marketing plan.

Someone please share with us how you are using Twitter to consistently grow your small business? There are so few success stories out there on Google.

Thanks,

Chris Nastav, KC Web Specialists, LLC. www.kcwebspecialists.com
Experts in how business gets done on the Internet (913) 908.5642

 

Top 10 Most Common Mistakes that Entrepreneurs Make

1. No Business Plan – If you rely on instinct to guide your business instead of a written plan, you’re headed for trouble. A plan helps you see where your company is, where it’s going, why and how you’re doing along the way.

2. No Sales Plan – Without a sales plan, you lack the ability to assess the financial growth and progress of your business. You need a realistic map for where the sales will come from, how they’ll come, from whom, how often as well as: how much selling is needed daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually!

3. No Marketing Plan – A marketing plan creates the kind of attention you need to get in front of the right types of people, companies, etc. It’s what attracts people to you!

4. No Support – A MasterMind or facilitated peer support group is like an unpaid board of advisors who have similar, related, successful businesses, which are noncompetitive. These professionals are positive, somewhat like-minded, and open-minded. They are an excellent resource, brain trust and support system.

5. No Cash Reserve or Real Cash Flow – During the excitement of starting a business, it’s easy to overlook the gap between making the first few sales and banking the money. Often, the wait can be too long and without some cash reserve many companies may stall or even fail without any planned cash flow coming in!

6. Ignoring the Numbers – As an entrepreneur/business owner, your primary goal is to make a net profit. If you don’t know how you’re doing until all the money is in and the bills are paid, it may be too late. You need to know where you stand on a regular basis, especially with regard to income versus expenses. Having a timely system in which you can record the appropriate key data and quickly analyze the information, is of the utmost importance

7. Not Being Automated – With the low cost of personal computers today and the very positive productivity impact they can have on your business, it’s essential to become automated. With a computer and access to the internet, a wealth of information is at your fingertips. With an e-commerce presence, you can extend your reach globally.

8. Not Knowing Your Customers – Changes in your customers’ preferences and your competitors’ products and services can leave you in the dust unless you get to know your customers well, what they want now and will likely want in the future, what their buying patterns are, and how you can be a resource for them even if you don’t have the right products or services for them now!

9. Ignoring Employees – Motivating, coaching and managing your staff is probably one of your toughest challenges as an entrepreneur/business owner. Without your patience, persistence and “people skills,” your problems can multiply quickly. Morale, productivity and profits can easily be destroyed. Be sure to get help if you assess objectively that these are not your strengths.

10. Being the Star – You might be the key to everything BUT you cannot DO everything and grow at the same time. Even modest success can overwhelm you unless you do the following: hire the right staff and delegate responsibility, work with a business coach or mentor, and finally, create several positive business exit options for the future to make the ultimate transition smooth and planned!

Michael Shapiro, Dynamic Management Solutions, Inc.

Contracts: Part II

Now that you are familiar with the elements of a contract, let’s take a some time to learn about some contracts that exist in the real world that you see on a regular basis. Your home. If you are an owner, there were several contracts that we created during the purchase. The first is the contract you had with your attorney. Chances are, you paid a fee and signed a “contract for services.” which included disclaimers and laid out the relationship you had with your attorney, including what services the attorney will and will not perform.

Then there is a contract you may have signed with your Realtor and, chances are, you promised not to use anyone else. That is more common with the seller but the buyer often has to sign that as well. Then, there is a contract with the bank. All of your mortgage documents make up a contract where you are promising to pay back the loan. Then of course, there is a contract with the seller where you are “accepting” their “offer” for the sale of their home, or vice versa. You see all of the elements there on that contract. They put an ad in the paper, or hired a Realtor to market their home for them. Normally, when you see an add in the paper, with the price, that is not an “offer” as defined by the Uniform Commercial Code. An ad in the paper, for the sale of a house, or anything else, is actually a request or invitation for you to give them an offer. Then, you reply to the ad, make an offer, and they have the opportunity to accept that offer. If they do accept, you are bound by the new contract, subject to contingencies. If they come back with a counter offer, now they are the offeror and you have the opportunity to accept. And, back and forth it goes.

If you do not own your home, you are in a rental contract. Many contracts, including the contract for sale of a residence, and a rental contract, have an entire set of laws that govern that relationship, because housing is such an important part of our lives. Other contracts, like an oral contract for services, will not be governed by anything other than the terms that you agree to.

Business contracts are created every day. We will discuss common business contracts next week. What was the last contract you entered into?

Brian Fons, Corporate Creations. Brian.Fons@corpcreations.com or check out my Podcast in iTunes.

Make a Good Interview and Drive More Media

So, you want to get PR for your business or organization but are you prepared to be a “good interview”?  It’s not enough to secure opportunities with media to drive business, you also have to be prepared to do a good interview; one that can lead to additional stories.

For me, there’s nothing better than securing a media interview opportunity for my clients, but the role they play in that story comes down to how they interview.  I can only do so much to prepare them and keep the nerves down.  Sure, you know your stuff inside and out but the second you put a microphone in their face they become nervous.  Their thoughts may not be as clear and they sometimes fail to actually answer the question they’re being asked.  That’s where preparation comes into play.

There are a number of things to consider before being interviewed, such as never wear white or busy patterns on TV and thoroughly understanding the topic in which you’re being interviewed (remember: journalists don’t write the same story but are looking for unique angles and they look to you to offer more specifically on that angle).  What business owners often fail to do is prepare, and let me tell you that practice DOES make perfect.

Here are some tips to make practicing easy, everyday, successful and to build confidence:

• Know the audience you’re speaking to. A journalist is just a catalyst to deliver information to their readers, viewers or listeners.  Understanding who they are will help you determine how to respond to the journalist’s query.  Think industry vs consumer.
• Stay focused on the topic. Trying to get too many of your key messages in can increase the chances of your quotes being edited, or even edited out, by the journalist to keep focus on the story angle.  The more you offer them, the bigger the presence you will have in the story.
• Why should the audience listen to you? What makes you a expert?  How are you going to communicate your expertise?
• Craft your messages. Really think about the five specific things you want to be sure to communicate to the audience about the industry or your business and product.  Write them out and refer to them during the interview, or memorize for broadcast.
• Learn to segue. Sure journalists are going to ask questions to lead you in the direction they want to go, but paying attention during the interview can provide opportunities to segue into the messages you really want to deliver.
• Be flexible. Be prepared for journalists to ask all kinds of questions.  If you really are an expert then it should be easy for you to be flexible and react positively.
• Be helpful. Make sure that what you are offering is truly helpful information for the journalist and the audience.
• Speak in soundbites. Don’t manipulate the entire conversation by going on and on.  Get to the point quick and think in soundbites (brief and informational statements).  This also gives the interviewer the opportunity to ask you more questions.  You don’t want to dominate the interview.
• Speak clearly, firmly and with confidence to establish credibility. There are two things that make for a potentially poor interview performance, 1. speaking fast and quietly or 2. not speaking enough.   Prove you’re a good interview by speaking at a reasonable volume and pace.  Finally, don’t rely on the journalist to pull the information out of you.  They are interviewing you because you’ve provided them confidence in your capabilities to offer a good story.  This is not the time to be shy.
• Practice, practice, practice. Use a mirror or ask someone you trust to run through a series of practice interviews with you.  This ensures that you know exactly what you want to say, that you’re thinking and speaking in soundbites and delivering helpful information to audiences about the subject, your business and/or product.

Do all of this and you will build confidence for media interviews of all kinds.  There’s nothing worse than letting your nerves get the best of you and walking away feeling as if you failed to communicate the messages you want to get out about your business.

A final tips:  if you’re embarking on a PR campaign, go after smaller media first.  Not only are you more likely to get an interview or mention but you can use it as practice to prepare for opportunities with larger even national media.    Record your interview, if possible, and listen to it after to make a list of key learnings and things to work on to become even better.

Jennifer Fortney, Cascade Communications and Small Biz PR Made Easy

Four Ways To Determine If a Candidate Is a Good Fit For Your Company

Wouldn’t it be nice to ask one question that uncovers at least four areas of your candidate’s general personality, giving you an idea of their overall behaviors, traits and values?

Well, you can. On your next interview, guide the conversation towards personality and ask, “Tell me about a time when a co-worker gave you advice.” This one question will uncover four pieces of vital information about the candidate:

1. Are they open to criticism or constructive feedback? Listen closely to the response and hear if the candidate was able to grasp the feedback or if they became uncomfortable and got defensive. This could be a sign of inflexibility when future differences occur.
2. Are they receptive to change? Did the candidate view the suggestion constructively? If they say that they didn’t realize they had that trait, or that they worked on it or changed the behavior afterward, you can have more confidence about their openness to dialogue and their receptiveness to any future concerns.
3. How independent are they? The candidate’s answer can be interpreted in a number of ways. If they were embarrassed by the advice and wanted to change to fit the role, they may be a follower. If they didn’t agree with the advice, it could signal an independent, free spirit who likes to do things their own way. Or it could mean they are prideful and vain. Listen closely to the rest of the conversation and put the answer into context.
4. How much do they respect their co-workers? If they took the advice of their co-worker, it could mean a belief in strong ties and the trust that comes from team effort.

Asking targeted follow-up questions will enable you to find out even more about the candidate. For example:

• How did the co-worker initially bring up the feedback?
• What was the candidate’s initial reaction?
• Did they agree with the co-worker?
• Looking back, what do they think about the conversation?

By asking these questions, you now have a much clearer picture of whether these characteristics complement what you are looking for in a candidate.

Michael Shapiro, Dynamic Management Solutions, Inc.

Small Business Tips and Radio Show to Hear

Are you looking for tips and ideas to marketing your business?  Well, on top of managing our client work we found time to take part in a radio show that every small business should listen to on BlogTalkRadio – Strategic Growth Concepts and how PR can grow your business.  Plus, our pal at The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur included us in over 100 tips for small businesses. These are both worth checking out!

BlogTalkRadio – Using PR to Grow Your Business The show runs about 90 minutes, but I promise it’s totally worth it. I was joined by two other extraordinary women on this panel.

Toilet Paper Entrepreneur – 115 Marketing Strategies for Small Business Jennifer Fortney is mentioned as #49.  But that’s just a number and happy to be included.  There’s so much good stuff here, you can’t afford not to read it!  You will definitely find some new ideas to pursue for your business.

And by the way, I know that we’ve yet to find someone to answer all of your tax questions (I’m working on it) but I did come across something that you might be interested in as the clock ticks it’s way down to……April 15th, aka TAX DAY.  For all of you procrastinators, check out Outright.com the Internet’s easiest FREE online bookkeeping service.

And while you’re at it, send us the marketing strategies that have worked for your business, and inspire others during this economic time.

Jennifer Fortney, Cascade Communications and SmallBizPRMadeEasy.com

Turning Your Idea in to a Business – Fast!

How many of us are full of great business ideas?  I know I am.  Laying in bed late at night I’ve solved global problems and brought to market cutting edge products and services – all in my head.  Without so much as a fleeting thought about a real plan, I’m already dreaming of the luxury holidays in any one of my portfolio of beach-side mansions worldwide as I bank my first $100 million.

Then I wake up in the morning, have a realisation that I lack either the time, cash or skill sets (sometimes all 3!) and figure it’s all a bit too hard – until today when I discovered a business that helps you find people with the time and skills to help transform your idea in to a reality without any upfront cash required!

Web Equity promotes itself as a platform for collaborative business development where members are rewarded through revenue sharing and/or an equity share in the new venture they help develop.  Admittedly, the model is really only targeted at online business ideas, but I can’t see any reason why it couldn’t work for offline business too.

Unlike other popular pay-as-you-go outsourcing sites, such as Elance and Rentacoder, Web Equity is likely to facilitate long term mentoring type business relationships between entrepreneurs willing to risk their time and effort for ongoing rewards.  Speaking for myself, I would much prefer sharing my ideas and investment in time with others to discover if some of my little web business ideas could actually have some merit behind them.  The alternative is to never know.

So stop sitting on that great idea about a website that could make you millions – using a tool like Web Equity for external expertise can see your idea realised faster than you think and you share the rewards with those that helped you.  As the founder of Web Equity says himself, “it’s more important to get an idea realised than it is to protect it and the best way of doing that is to rely on associates with specific areas of expertise.”

Web Equity currently lists projects and people in Australia, USA, Canada and the UK.  Do you know of other collaborative based websites out there that offer this sort of service to realise and grow a business idea?

Clayton Moulynox - Evolve IT Australia
We fix business problems, not computer problems -  Develop, Solve, Evolve.

How Do Blogs Make My Company Money?

A blog can your increase your business in one or a combination of primarily three ways.

1. You get a huge following to your blog and people wonder about who the author is and what they do. Their curiosity leads them to click on your “About Us” page on the blog. From there, if you do it right, they click the link to your main Web site and decide to do business with you.

2. Google rewards a company’s Web site in its search results, in big part, based on how large a presence a company has on the Internet. By posting often in your blog, and getting people to link to your blog, you are systematically increasing your company’s Internet presence. The larger you are on the Internet the higher Google will rank you.

3. Get a really popular blog going and people will pay you to put their advertisements on your blog pages.

Tips – - Blog often, blog short posts, blog in relation to your key words, ADVERTISE your blog link anywhere and everywhere you can.

Can you please share with us other ways you use your blog to make money?

Thanks,

Chris Nastav, KC Web Specialists, LLC. www.kcwebspecialists.com
Experts in how business gets done on the Internet (913) 908.5642

What is a contract?

When most people think of contracts, they picture a multi-page document that is written on 8 1/2 x 14 paper and virtually unreadable because it is filled with “legalease”. While many contracts have those qualities, they are by no means required. A contract can be written on a cocktail napkin, created by a series of e-mails, or not have any writing at all. That type is called a oral contract. Businesses and individuals enter into contracts all the time, without knowing it. All contracts, elements include an offer, and acceptance, and consideration. Here is an example of the sequence.

O: If you wash my windows, I will give you $10.
A: I agree to wash your windows for $10.

The consideration must be on both sides. One party is giving $10 and the other party is giving his time and effort in washing the windows. As long as those three elements are present, a contract will exist. In this case, no writing is required. In fact, the window washer probably wouldn’t even need to open his mouth. If he were to walk over to the windows and wash them, his acceptance would be by his action (of washing the windows). The offer would be accepted and completed.

The next few blog entries will deal with the complexities of this relationship we call a contract. Please post any contract questions you may have and I will do my best to answer them!

Brian Fons, Corporate Creations. Brian.Fons@corpcreations.com or check out my Podcast in iTunes.

Quarterly Revenue Planning

It’s the beginning of a new quarter – the last of the financial year for most businesses here in Australia.  So in the last few days I completed my usual start-of-quarter routine:  Setting revenue objectives.  I thought I’d share this relatively simple process with you because I find it extremely useful in identifying areas I need to grow to achieve my revenue target.

Let’s say to meet my annual year on year growth expectations I need to reach $300,000 revenue in total for this coming quarter.  Now I work backwards from here…

Firstly, I break my potential revenue sources in half between existing customers and new business.  Then, for each of these groups, I break it in half again.  So I end up with these four groups:

Existing customers – Run-rate business:  Sales from your existing customers that are buying more of what they already have.  These are generally transactional sales that require the least effort.
Existing customers – Upsell & cross-sell:  Selling more products and services that you offer to your existing customers.
New business – Market growth:  Selling your usual product/service stack to customers that are in the same industries or in other ways similar to your existing customers.
New business – Green fields:  Taking new or transformed products/services to new customers in new markets.

These are the four groups from which I’m going to achieve my revenue target for the quarter.  Now I want to allocate specific revenue goals to these areas.  Because it’s been a tough start to the year, I really want my sales team to focus on driving revenue from the “low-hanging fruit” – our existing customers.  We all know that hunting new business is harder and takes more time than farming business from existing clients (don’t we?).  As such, I don’t want my sales team spending much time chasing large chunks of new business this quarter.

In this case, I might allocate a revenue goal of $150,000 to group 1, $100,000 to group 2, $50,000 to group 3 and none at all to group 4 – again, I don’t want the sales team tied down developing new products to sell in new markets this quarter.

The next process is to look at my existing sales pipeline and determine what revenue is already expected in those groups, and what the revenue gap is we need to make up to achieve the revenue goal.  For example, my sales team may already have $75,000 of run-rate sales in the pipeline, which leaves a gap of $75,000 to achieve the $150,000 I’m looking for out of the first group.  You repeat the same exercise for the other groups.  It’s then a matter of coming up with appropriate marketing and sales strategies to close the revenue gaps and ultimately achieve the overall revenue target.

In the end, you and/or your sales team get a clear picture of where to focus efforts for the quarter and you know everyone is working towards the same goal – something many small businesses struggle to achieve.

This is quite an abridged version of the process, let me know if you’d like me to elaborate!

Clayton Moulynox - Evolve IT Australia
We fix business problems, not computer problems -  Develop, Solve, Evolve.