Video: Lead Effectively in Six Steps
by CB on Aug.12, 2010, under Managing Your Business
SmallBusinessNewz has published a video and companion story entitled “Becoming an Effective Leader.” The story describes the six steps leaders follow to get others to support their mission:
1. Have a strategy
2. Have a specific goal or vision of the future
3. Communicate that goal or vision with others
4. Get things started; take action
5. Set the example; motivate
6. Delegate
Now, here’s my question about these six steps. They do summarize the function of leading to some extent, but are they specific enough to be helpful to someone who struggles to lead? For example, what does it mean to “have a strategy?” And is it really possible to create that strategy before you have identified your future goals and established your vision?
Access the SmallBusinessNewz video and article here.
Strategy development is the step where many leaders lose their way. Having a vision and motivating through example cannot get you very far when your strategy is unrealistic. The challenge lies in balancing realism (for strategy development) without dampening the vision. Kazuo Inamori, founder of Kyocera, describes this somewhat contradictory process in his book, A Compass to Fulfillment. If you’re interested in learning more about business leadership, Inamori’s book is a fine place to start.
A Compass to Fulfillment: Passion and Spirituality in Life and Business
Survey Says: Small Business Owners Are Optimistic
by CB on Jul.27, 2010, under Marketing Your Business
A recent survey conducted by TD Bank indicates that most small business owners (87%) expect to meet or beat last year’s performance. Hoping to see real and lasting recovery, more than 90% of respondents said they were considering “proactive strategies to prepare for an economic upswing.”
2009 was a tough year for small business. Two-thirds of respondents characterized the recession’s effect on their business as “negative.” Almost one-quarter of respondents characterized the impact as “very negative.”
Not surprisingly, 34% of respondents said that managing cash was their biggest challenge last year. (Maybe they are not using an integrated cash flow spreadsheet, such as the one we have available for free at BusinessMorgue.com??) What is surprising is that 24% said that, in retrospect, they should have done more sales and marketing. (Hmm…that doesn’t sound like the small business owners I know…)
10 Things You Should Know About SEO
by CB on Jul.15, 2010, under Marketing Your Business
- There is no SEO magic wand. SEO is a long-term, ongoing process that requires planning and the ability to adapt. Remember that you are chasing after a moving target: you are building content and links and link bait, while your competitors are doing the same. At the same time, the search engines are tinkering with their algorithms, which always remain top secret. Don’t expect to spend a few hours or a few hundred bucks and be done with SEO. If your business depends on web traffic, then you must have an ongoing SEO strategy and budget.
- Anyone can call himself an SEM or SEO expert. Not everyone is. The SEO services space today reminds me of the Sears Auto scandal of the 1990s. If you remember, Sears Auto service advisors were recommending repairs that the customers did not need. They got away with it because they were trusted as experts. This is not to say you shouldn’t trust anyone, but don’t accept advice blindly. Check credentials, ask for references, and be skeptical of recommendations that are offered before you even explain what your objective is.
- Being “on the first page of Google” is not the answer to your business problems. Don’t fall victim to the assumption that first-page ranking will radically change your business. It all depends on the phrases associated with those first-page rankings and the mindset of the users who are searching.
- SEO is not free. At a minimum, you have to compensate someone for doing the work of writing content, building partnerships, creating buzz, obtaining links, etc. Decide what your search rankings are worth to you and budget accordingly. Understand that you will always have competitors who have deep pockets, and don’t expect miracles on a tiny budget. (continue reading…)
Service Provider Review: North American Bancard
by CB on Jul.07, 2010, under Managing Money
In a previous post, I talked about the importance of clarifying your payment processing needs before setting up a merchant account. Doing so helps you select the right provider and the right type of account, which ultimately minimizes unnecessary fees and, possibly, cancellation charges.
The merchant services industry is a competitive one, and account reps. are very good at getting themselves endorsed by local chambers of commerce and other business groups. Speaking from experience, I can tell you that an endorsement is not the best way to select a payment processing solution. This is because these accounts have relatively complex terms and conditions, and no one setup is the universal answer for all businesses. Therefore, the best way to proceed is to interview as many service providers as you can.
North American Bancard (NAB) is a relatively well established payment service provider based in Troy, Mich. The company services more than 100,000 businesses with a full slate of payment services, including the traditional credit and debit card solutions and other offerings like business cash advances, gift card/loyalty card programs, electronic processing and check verification services.
NAB processes more than $8 billion in transactions annually, and so has the scale to offer 24/7 customer service, among other things. Round-the-clock customer service is super important if your business is open during nontraditional hours or if you only have free time during nontraditional hours. Most small business owners fall into one or both of those categories.
NAB’s scale also makes the company relatively easy to research. You can view a few different online resources to learn more, including:
- North American Bancard Wikipedia Page
- North American Bancard Company Profile
- North American Bancard Blog
When you review a service provider’s blog or profile page, you are basically looking to understand the business’s position in the industry. Is the company big enough to handle your needs? Or is the company too big, such that you won’t be an important customer? You also want to know that the company offers the services you need now, and those you may need in the future. (continue reading…)
Site Review: Free Websites By Wix
by CB on Jun.04, 2010, under Marketing Your Business, ecommerce
A free website is easy to come by. If you’ve ever searched for one, you probably found a whole slew of competing service providers. Some are full-featured, robust website builder interfaces, and others are not.
Before we get into where Wix falls on this spectrum, let’s talk about how you would use a free website. This is a service that’s targeted to individuals launching hobby sites and solo entrepreneurs launching micro businesses. For those who need to keep their launch costs to a minimum, the free site can be a decent option. But there are drawbacks, and you shouldn’t go down this road unless you are comfortable with those drawbacks. (continue reading…)
Identifying Your Payment Processing Needs
by CB on Jun.01, 2010, under Managing Money, Managing Your Business
The rationale behind setting up a merchant services account is pretty straight forward: accepting credit card payments generally helps you capture more customers and get paid faster. In theory, every business owner could stand to have a few more customers on the books and a few less dollars tied up in accounts receivable (AR).
But that’s theory. In practice, the decision to set up a merchant credit card processing service isn’t always a no-brainer. It’s important, first, to understand how you would use a merchant account. Do that analysis upfront and, if you decide to proceed, you will be better prepared to select the right service provider.
Questions to ask
What are your sales channels?
Analyze the accepted forms of payment in your current and prospective sales channels. For example:
- Online retailing to any customer type generally requires some form of credit card processing service, either through a direct provider like North American Bancard or through a third-party provider like PayPal.
- Door-to-door selling usually involves cash or check.
- Direct mail sellers tend to accept check and credit card.
- Storefront, consumer businesses vary in accepted forms of payment. The decision to accept credit cards should depend on the average sale and the composition of the store’s walk-in traffic.
Amazon WebStore: Launch An ECommerce Business Fast
by CB on May.25, 2010, under ecommerce
Amazon has launched a new ecommerce solution designed for online retailers who want to launch their stores on a shoestring budget. The solution, called Amazon WebStore, allows for the creation of a full featured, branded ecommerce site with absolutely no start-up costs.
Like other subscription-based sites, Amazon WebStore uses templates and widgets to jump-start the site design. The user, however, has a substantial amount of control over the site’s look and feel. Custom images, java script and CSS can be implemented within the templates. Template master pages can be modified at any time, so that site-wide design changes are applied quickly. (continue reading…)
Using Twitter to Find Customers
by CB on May.13, 2010, under Marketing Your Business
The other day, a Twitter glitch caused everyone’s follower and following counts to drop to zero. This sparked a flood of panicked tweets (here’s an opportunity to coin a new term, how about twysteria?); at least one of those anxious comments compared the incident to a national disaster.
I note the fame of Twitter only to make the point that the microblogging platform has solidified its place in modern communication practices. And that means that people are probably using it to talk about your business, your industry or your products/services. If you’re not convinced of that last point, go to Twitter’s home page, type in a general term for your industry or product category into the search box and hit enter.
See?
Now the results you get from running that search may not be particularly helpful to you. Chances are, they are mostly comprised of your competitors in the act of promoting themselves. If you scrolled through the results pages, you might eventually find someone asking for a solution to the problem that your product or service solves. That would be the ideal marketing opportunity, wouldn’t it–to present yourself to a target customer at the very moment she needs your help? It doesn’t get any better than that.
The problem is, it’s going to take you way too long to find that tweet. So here’s a better alternative, known as the “anyone know” search. I first read about the “anyone know” search here, at searchengineland.com. The implementation of an “anyone know” search is pretty simple; just type in “anyone know” along with your product name into Twitter’s search box. Note that when you search, “anyone know” should be in quotation marks, but the name of your product or service should not be. For example, I typed in “anyone know” copywriter and immediately saw several tweets from people who were looking for copywriters. These are legitimate prospects for me, and all I have to do is sign in and hit reply to make contact.
Try it out for yourself and let me know what you find.
When Your Business Needs Balance
by CB on May.10, 2010, under Managing Your Business
Entrepreneurs sometimes find failure in trying to do everything themselves. I’ve seen it happen. We start up our businesses, and we try to work the big picture and manage the details at the same time. Depending on the entrepreneur’s personality, one side of that equation gets neglected: the business owner gets stuck in the quagmire of details such that the business never moves forward, or the business owner becomes distracted with strategy, to the point that customer service drops off or work doesn’t get done.
An outside perspective can facilitate more balance in your business. And the more experienced that outside perspective is, the more effective it will be at helping you move your business forward. Unfortunately, an experienced perspective comes at a cost. Further, you may be unsure of what type of help you need: do you need to hire a strategy consultant, a marketing consultant, an assistant?
In these situations, a reputable business coach might be the right investment. An effective business coach can do more than address an immediate problem; he or she can help you achieve focus, make effective decisions, and communicate successfully with your customers and employees.
Finding a good business coach
Business coaches are everywhere; some are good at what they do, and some are not. To help you distinguish between the two, here’s a review of the site of an experienced coach, JM Perry.
JM Perry is not solely focused on business coaching, but specializes in the broader category of Life Strategies. Business is a sub-focus, however, as demonstrated by the testimonials on the site. They include praise from high-level executives from Amazon.com, Jaguar Land Rover, Accenture, Staples, and Charles Schwab & Co. If you click over to JM Perry’s Life Strategies Blog, you can get a taste for JM Perry’s philosophies. You will also see that these philosophies are as applicable to business success as they are to life success. (continue reading…)
Back To Basics: There Are Only Three Sources of Web Traffic
by CB on May.07, 2010, under Marketing Your Business
Want to know how to get more visitors to your Web site?
If your answer’s yes, you’ve probably already seen a zillion articles outlining the latest and greatest sources of Web traffic. Heck, I’ve probably written a zillion articles on the topic. Well, guess what? It’s time for a reality check.
As Internet marketers, we get so involved in the process of staying “in the know” that we can sometimes overlook the big picture. And often, it’s the big picture that shapes our future success. So let’s take a step back now and assess the landscape: where does Web traffic really come from?
Web traffic is comprised of three broad categories:
- Search engine traffic
- Referral traffic
- Direct traffic
Search engine traffic can be bought via pay-per-click, sponsored listings campaigns. Free search engine traffic, on the other hand, must be earned. Since the search engines guard their algorithms carefully, there is no accepted list of what factors determine whether your site is worthy enough to rank well in organic search. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying. Factors that are believed to be of importance include site content, incoming links, site age, page load speed, internal links, and quality/type of coding.
(continue reading…)
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