Blog posts in Business IT

The power of domain names

According to research carried out by names.co.uk, more than a quarter (28%) of new small-business owners wait months after they’ve registered their company name before they register their domain name, thereby risking losing out on their preferred website address.

In fact, our research suggests that about a fifth actually lose their preferred name and have to settle for a name that isn’t related to their company.

We surveyed 2,079 business owners and found that many were startlingly relaxed about owning their online brand – but come to regret this later on when they miss out on their preferred domain name.

Even many dot-com savvy firms established in the past three years have missed the boat. Most companies make the mistake of focusing exclusively on their company name, believing it to be central to the success of their business, without even thinking to check for their domain name first.

Your domain name is often more important these days than your mobile or telephone number, so it is a big oversight not to check whether it’s available before registering your company name. Customers will search for your .com or .co.uk address every day, so not owning the most logical domain can be a real issue.

However, not all businesses are as forgetful about registering their company name. More than a third (35%) admit to registering their domain name before they launched their business, with 25% building their website before launching their business. About half (49%) also admit to registering multiple domain names to protect their company name or expand their business. 

Other key findings from our research include:

• 84% of respondents launched their website within months of registering their company, with 12% building their website in a day
• 10% took more than a year to get a website online
• 27% have registered Facebook and Twitter accounts, but 54% still have neither
• 25% might consider changing their company name, given the chance
• 10% admitted to not being sure if they even like their company name.

Names are important, of course, and every one with plans to start a new business really needs to think carefully about their domain name. We encourage small businesses to consider registering their domain name before they launch their company, so they can get the name that best serves their business’s interests. 

Sally Tomkotowicz is marketing manager at Namesco, which provides online services for businesses and individuals.

How to build loyalty and grow your online business

A common way to encourage customers to buy from your online store is with reward schemes. Many of us already use loyalty cards or vouchers when shopping in supermarkets to collect points and redeem them for a few pounds off a future purchase. Everyone benefits: the regular customer feels they are valued and retailer gains more repeat business. For every free drink someone is enjoying at their favourite coffee shop there are many customers with a loyalty card that have some, but not sufficient, stamps to gain a reward.

Bigger retailers also gain a huge amount of statistical data to understand customers’ shopping behaviour better.

You can do it too

The good news is if you are a small online retailer you can also set up reward schemes. For example, loyalty programmes that show customers you appreciate their business.

If you decide to implement a loyalty programme, make sure your ecommerce platform offers this functionality as standard. That way you don’t have to use third-party software – or worse still, develop an app that might never fully integrate with your back office. Then you need to consider the following:

• The starting point has to be research to establish what you want to achieve. Are you trying to acquire new customers, retain current ones or reward your best buyers?
• A loyalty programme should not cost more than between 0.5-2% of your marketing budget. Spend more on your best customers and set up the scheme so unprofitable customers are not eligible for rewards.
• Be upfront about why you are running the programme and be consistent with the offer, so customers understand what they will be rewarded for.
• Prepare a calendar of events and timetable to complete the plan successfully.

However, loyalty programmes aren’t for everyone. If your business offers consistently low prices and great service, such a programme may not be necessary. It's a long-term commitment and it is likely to be at least 18 months before you start to see a return. 

Tell a friend

Another way to gain new customers and build relationships with your existing ones is to offer a referral scheme. This incentivises customers to promote your products and your business. You are much more likely to make a sale if you are recommended by someone who is a trusted source.

If you get a sale as a result of a recommendation, say thank you and send a reward in return, such as a discount that can be used when placing their next order. Your customers’ friends could also receive a one-time referral discount. 

It’s a win-win situation. What else could be the most cost effective way for promoting your company?

The golden rules of using Facebook for business

Barely an hour goes by these days without some multinational brand desperately appealing to you to ‘Like’ them. Admittedly, this is on their Facebook page rather than them wanting to join you for drinks, but with an estimated 845 million global users, Facebook popularity for a business is now directly linked to its turnover.

But is Facebook just another marketing domain to be exploited by corporate heavyweights or can it work for new business just as well? The answer is no and certainly yes – if you do it right.

Creating your page

When creating a Facebook page for your new business, make sure the basics are covered:

• Great visuals – a picture prompts a thousand Likes. Make sure the visuals demonstrating your new business are strong and attractive. No holiday snaps (unless you’re selling holidays).
• Call to action - Place a clear call-to-action graphic in the landing tab, this will help getting more "Likes" from your visitors.
• Check your competitors – Look at what other businesses/competitors are doing with their pages. Mimic the good and mind out for the bad.
• Make sharing easy - Add an "Invite Your Friends" Box to your page enabling your visitors to instantly choose some of their friends and send them invitations to your page.
• Make purchasing easy – If you’re selling products online, constructing your page to be a one-stop shop for customers to interact, engage and buy.
• Join your forces – To maximise awareness and interaction of your new business, link your website to your Facebook page and vice-a-versa.

Finding customers

Your idea is formulated, product/service offering ready, logo designed, website constructed and Facebook page created. All you need now are customers and the beauty of using a ‘social network’ to find them, is that, if you’re already a private Facebook user, you very likely have a good-sized network already that likes you.

For anyone starting a new business, you must use all the tools you’ve got. Don’t be afraid to ask people to help you out and give your new product a try. Why does this work? Because those people with whom you share your life story on Facebook already trust you. There’s no target audience to build. No reaching out to other people in your niche, trying to gain recognition. Your friends will support you. They’re your friends, after all and if they ‘like’ what they see, then suddenly your new business reaches the eyes of their friends and so the social network beings to do what it does best – to network.

Getting engaged

Once your network is up and running, don’t bombard people with constant, well-worn sales pitches but rather engage them with your insight, offers and industry expertise.

• Create a resource – By including well-sourced and relevant industry information and comment on your page, followers will come to recognise you as a lot more than another shop or service provider.
• Interact with your customers – Whether it be offering discounts, reacting to customer comments, requesting comment on new product lines, initiating light-hearted debates or posing thought-provoking questions, engage your followers and they will readily spread the message of your business.
• Handle criticism carefully – Remember, Facebook is an open forum, so any negative comments posted on your business Facebook page by disgruntled customers must be dealt with ‘in public’. Problems that are seen to be being dealt with swiftly and compassionately reassure potential customers. Never be tempted to delete negative customer comments – it will invariably come back to bite you.

To Facebook or not to Facebook?

 A well-executed social media strategy can offer you the chance to engage with untold numbers of potential new customers and provide them with a valuable insight into your business ethics and character. When it comes to consumer decision-making, the importance of these factors should not be underestimated.  What you are meticulously cultivating is that illusive animal - consumer trust.

We all buy from brands we trust. Maybe we trust that they will give us the very best value, or perhaps we trust that they know more about what looks good to wear than we do, but we buy from them, and return to them, because we have, for one reason or another, formed a positive association with what they stand for. So if your new business is almost ready for launching, if you haven’t already done so, be sure to create your Facebook page.

Ken Eden is MD of WebEden, an independently run, London based, web Software Company.

Are you planning to spend too much money on your website?

If you own a business, you almost certainly need a website. Even if you aren’t selling products online, the web is where people go to search for businesses – it’s the new Yellow Pages and fingers are still doing the walking. So it was surprising that our national survey of small-business owners revealed that 41 per cent of them don’t have a website.

Your website is an investment, but how much should you spend on getting one? For a new small business, it’s a difficult decision. It will depend on your resources and how much value you place on your website. Our poll of 400 small businesses across the UK suggested that one-in-five self-employed professionals spent more than £1,000 on getting their website up and running. But what are the options?

Hire a professional designer

If you have a good turnover/profit, and a good portion of that can be attributed to your website, hiring a professional web designer could be a smart move. Generally, a designer will give you something better than what you thought you wanted. The only problem is the price tag. Good designers don’t often come cheap and can spend days perfecting your website. If you’re a small business owner and can’t afford a professional designer, you can minimise the risk of spending too much money by creating your own site.

Become a budding designer

Some of the most popular platforms for web developers at the moment are WordPress, Joomla! and Drupal (there are lots of others). They’re great for business-owners who know, or want to learn, a bit about web design and, best of all, they’re free (although you still need a web address and hosting). Be prepared to devote a large chunk of time to getting a bespoke website though.

If you’ve bought your own domain name, know which web host is right for you and can set up an FTP, WordPress is worth looking at. If you didn’t understand half of the last sentence – and not many people would – there are other ways.

DIY web design for the rest of us 

Despite 36 per cent of respondents saying they don’t think they have the time or skills to create a website, it’s not as hard as it sounds. Easy-to-use web design software makes getting a website live online simple – and quick. You don’t need to know any programming language – they often have templates made by designers so if you can use a mouse and keyboard, you have all the skills you need to create a professional-looking website.

Being in charge of your own website makes updating quick, easy, and free. You don’t have to communicate changes with anyone, wait around for them to get it done, and then pay them for it. You’ll find that most of these types of programs sort you out with a domain name and hosting, and usually cost less than £100. It’s great value, however you look at it.

What to do?   

For the cash-strapped start-up, using a DIY website program provides excellent value for money and won’t eat up much of your time either. It’s a safe way to get online without a huge initial outlay. If you feel the need, you can always get a professional to redesign it for you when you have the money.

For more information on Serif visit www.serif.com/webplus.

Dale Cook is product marketing manager at Serif.

Analytics, optimisation & advertising: three must-read books

The plethora of information available in the online world has created the horrible scenario where there’s too much of a good thing. If you’re looking for helpful advice or guides, you’ll be able to find them in droves, all with contradicting views and opinions on best practices. When you’re looking for start-up business advice, where performance can hinge on the smallest make-or-break decisions, it becomes crucial to find a reliable, trustworthy source that you know is speaking from experience and not opinion.

Following on from my August post, below are three more personal recommendations of authors who actively blog helpful tips and guides online, coupled with a best-selling book that is a must-read. Each of these books covers a different field of business so, if you have a start-up website which you are looking to grow, you need these books.

Avinash Kaushik - Web Analytics 2.0

Field: Website analytics

The ability to track data on the internet is second-to-none, allowing user-centric information for marketers and companies at a level that has never previously been available. Making this data actionable though, now that’s difficult.

Avinash is quite simply a legend in the website analytics field, and you should be worried if you hire a web analyst who is not familiar with his name and work. Responsible for the term “Analytics Ninja”, he is an advocate for better reporting, leading to conclusion-based analysis that is crucial for a successful website.

His best-selling book “Web Analytics 2.0” is tailored to an hour-a-day attitude of improving your understanding, implementation and analysis of data for your website. The depth and breadth of this book make it perfect for those just starting out in website analytics as well as experienced professionals. It is literally impossible to read this book and not become a better analyst (and all proceeds of this book go to charity, such is Avinash’s way), so if you buy any book, this must be it.

Danny Dover - Search Engine Optimisation Secrets

Field: Website optimisation

You are probably familiar with the term Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). An essential requirement for any website hoping to show-up in search engines like Google and Bing, SEO is both necessary and difficult.

The field of SEO is strewn with guides from literally thousands of sources and you can easily get caught up in terrible advice and ‘best practices’. Start off with Danny Dover’s guide and you won’t go wrong.

Similar to Avinash’s Web Analytics guide, Danny’s book is perfect for both SEO newbies and pros, and covers everything from basic on-page optimisation to more advanced SEO tactics, such as site architecture.

The SEO road is a long and frustrating one, but Search Engine Optimisation Secrets will relieve the pain of searching for answers.

Craig Danuloff - Quality Score in High Resolution

Field: Online advertising

At some point in your website’s life, you will want to advertise it. Whether it is on Google’s content network, or search engine bidding in the sponsored ads, online advertising done right can be a revenue-winner, but done wrong can be a company-killer.

Craig Danuloff’s book focuses on a section of online advertising referred to as Pay-per-click (PPC), a self explanatory term highlighting the fact that you provide an advertisement and will be charged each time an individual clicks it.

The world of PPC is incredibly advanced, and so much deeper than an auction model of “he who spends most, wins”. One of the key factors of PPC is a Quality Score algorithm, a mystery figure calculated by the search engines which impacts when your ad is shown and how much you pay.

It would take a lifetime to find and read through the Quality Score essentials that you need to know for a successful campaign. This book brings all of this information together, with the expertise of Mr Danuloff breaking down the intricacies of paid search and Quality Score in a way you simply won’t find online.

I hope these recommendations lead your start-up to greater things. Have you read any books recently that are filled with start-up gold? Share the wealth by adding your own recommendations on our Forum http://www.startupdonut.co.uk/forum. 

Matt Bird of printer cartridge supplier, StinkyInk

On the go

During the last three decades the way we work and live has changed beyond recognition. Our grandfathers (and rather fewer of our grandmothers) worked in a job for life, climbed their way up through a company’s ranks and often kept regular 9-5.30 hours. By contrast, today’s workers are expected to negotiate changing circumstances and new challenges throughout their careers.

How we work reflects and informs how we live. Your employees’ work lives form just one part of their life experience. Childcare, the responsibility of elderly relatives, pregnancy, illness, leisure, education... all these factors and infinite others combine with employment to create an overall life experience, for better or worse.  And, of course, within the work environment itself things have also changed dramatically. The days of addressing your workmates as Mr. and Mrs. and wearing a tie to the office are all but gone. Longer hours and a less formal working culture have provided more opportunity for colleagues to socialise. Self-development in the form of training has increased as individuals are required to perform more multi-faceted roles. Diversity has become a valued asset... It’s a different world.

Changes like these are inevitable, constant and should be embraced. That’s why it’s always worth stepping back to consider how they may impact on your business and how you might manage them to your advantage. By taking a closer look at how to create a better working life for your people, you can improve their health, decrease stress levels, and provide your employees with a greater sense of being valued and of having their talent nurtured. It might be a relatively small project like a bike-to-work scheme, or a more committed move towards better pensions or more flexible hours: however you engage your people and improve the way work fits into their life experience can only benefit your business in the long-term.

Progressive employers have long recognised that the best, most productive members of staff aren’t necessarily tied to the office. By allowing individuals time to work remotely, to set up meetings in different cities, to take business to the clients, companies are energising the workforce. This new sense of freedom and personal responsibility has been made possible by technology. Over the last 20 years, the number of employees in the UK ‘telecommuting’ – using technology to work remotely – has doubled, according to Census figures.

The internet represents the single largest factor in changing how, and where, we work but other technologies have also had significant impact when it comes to getting us on the move. Tele-conferencing, video-conferencing, mobile phones, email and instant messaging all give us the freedom to take our work anywhere. It’s no longer necessary for us to be together to work together – a concept that has radically altered the notion of a set ‘place of work.’ Until recently, business software was one of the few areas of work life that was strictly office-based. There is a wide range of new and innovative ways for employees to work remotely, covering more than the obvious email, CRM and web access.  Sage, for example, has introduced a new app that enables access to Sage 50 Accounts 2012, wherever you are. Sage 50 Accounts Mobile www.sage.co.uk/sage50mobile harnesses the power of the web to enable you and your employees to view cash flow, customer and supplier details, reports and much more in real time. The app is simple to set up, free and whether you’re a financial director looking for quarterly figures or a manager generating a weekly sales report it’s invaluable when you’re on the go.

The benefits of mobile business

• Staff retention – freedom and trust are attractive incentives
• Increased productivity as employees work more dynamically
• Reach new markets with face-to-face interaction
• Decrease overheads on office space, heating and lighting
• Lead the way – remote and mobile working are set to rise

Dynamic, forward-thinking businesses address cultural and technological progress as a matter of course. A business adaptable enough to work change to its advantage, harnessing new ideas to invest in happier, more productive employees, is a business primed for success.

How to build a customer-focused website

It may sound blindingly obvious, but by focusing on customers' needs when you design your website you stand the best chance of creating a site that customers will want to visit.

However, this can be easier said than done. Unless you really understand what customers want, you run the risk of creating a website that drives customers away rather than attracting them.

Carrying out some research before you start can help you identify what your customers really want. You need to know:

• Who your target customers are
• How they use your site
• Whether your site is easy to use

Who’s your audience?

Ask yourself who your audience is. Are they current or prospective customers? Are they individuals or businesses? Where are they located?

Customer records can answer some of these questions but if you want to profile online customers there are some great online tools you can use. Tools like HitWise and Alexa can help you profile the people who visit your site, your competitors’ sites or even your industry as a whole.

How do customers behave on your site?

If you’re updating an existing site, answering this question is simple. There's a host of free and paid for web analytical tools that can give you a detailed picture of how customers behave online. Free tools like Google Analytics are simple to use and can help you identify who visits your site, what they look at, how long they spend online and which visits lead to sales.

Analytical tools can also help you identify what doesn't work, where potential customers drop out and the pages that generate complaints.

If you are launching a site from scratch, you could start by looking at your competitors' websites. What do they provide? How does that compare with what you offer? Do your customers use competitors' sites? What do they think of them? What works and doesn't work?

The best way to answer these questions is to ask customers directly. You can use online surveys like 4Qsurvey, send out questionnaires or carry out face-to-face interviews.

Getting feedback directly from your customers will help you hone your site to their wants and needs. It will also demonstrate to them that their needs matter to you.

Remember to ask customers what they might want to do in the future. Technologies are constantly evolving and your customers – particularly business customers – may be developing new systems and technologies that could help give your site a competitive advantage.

How usable is your site?

Put yourself in your customers' shoes. How easy is it to complete online tasks? Is it easy to find what you are looking for? Is it obvious what steps need to be taken to complete a task?

Eliminating usability issues will help you maximise sales and reduce the number of people who leave your site without completing their task.

There are plenty of experts that can review your site for you. Alternatively, you can use one of the many online resources like this great usability guide. It gives hints and tips on how you can do your own usability testing. But remember that you should be testing with actual customers in mind.

Once you know what your current and prospective customers want from your site, you can start to define the site’s structure, look, content and feel.

And finally…

Remember: it’s not enough to only think about customers' needs when you build your website. To ensure that your site remains customer focused, you must continually review your web metrics, talk to your customers and develop your website accordingly. In doing this, you’ll create a site that your customers will return to again and again.

Ewan McIntyre is the web implementation manager for Sage UK

This blog is a reworking of a blog that featured on the Sage blog   

Related articles:

• Enough about me – let’s talk about you
• Turn your visitors into buyers with website analysis software
• Turn website visits into sales

Why analytics are vital to your business

The majority of UK businesses now have some level of online presence and one of the brilliant things about the digital world is that performance is measurable.

When should a start-up look at this? Yesterday! Never underestimate the value of historical data, especially if your product/service experiences seasonal demand. In its simplest form, historical data can help you forecast peaks and troughs, with significant implications on areas such as your business cashflow or marketing budgets.

Tell me more

Analytics software (eg Google Analytics) are remarkably easy to install and offer potentially endless performance benefits. To give you a taster, here are three analytics-based tasks to help boost your start-up’s website and business performance.

1 Referral tracking

Any decent analytics programme will tell you where traffic comes from. This can be anywhere from a search engine or marketing email, to someone typing in your website URL into the address bar.

These statistics include what are called “referrals”, essentially, other sites linking to you. Referrals include business directories, comments posted in forums, affiliate sites and links from articles you’ve had published. Knowing where you are getting traffic from allows you to decide where to focus your energy and budget on building traffic, while monitoring brand mentions and opportunities. These brand mentions give you first-hand access to: people mentioning your company; accolades; and complaints.

If someone has had a bad experience with your business, you can get in there early and limit the damage. If someone is telling their friends how great you are, get their permission to use them as a testimonial, ask them what they liked, let as many people as possible know how great you are.

You’ll find plenty of Twitter search tools that complement analytics referral tracking here.

2 Search monitoring

Most analytics packages enable you to track the exact queries being used in your own website’s search bar. This is invaluable customer intelligence. You can see what people are searching for, which pages result in the highest interest, which searches return no results, etc. You can even see trending in market demands. If you monitor spikes in certain terms being used, you can see where the customer interest is heading. The possibilities for this information are huge, and can really help steer your start-up in the direction your customers want – instead of the direction you think they need.

3 What technology your visitors are using

What browser do your visitors use? Are they on a laptop or mobile phone? Knowing how your visitors view your page is important. Imagine the changes you’d make to your marketing plan if you knew most of your traffic came via mobile.

You can also highlight performance issues on your site. I know one update Stinkyink.com released had... let’s just say “interesting”... repercussions for Internet Explorer 6 users, which missed testing, but analytics bought the issue to our attention.

Craving analytics yet?

I hope those points have opened your eyes to the benefits to be gained from analytics, even on a low traffic start-up site. Be inspired and go implement it now – or dust off your analytics package and have a tinker.

Matt Bird of printer cartridge supplier, StinkyInk

Read more on this topic:

• How can I get my web visitors past my homepage?
• Access Google Analytics

How to create a blog as unique as your business

The design and functionality of your blog should be determined by your blogging targets and goals. Not all blogs will look the same or require the same functionality. Getting exactly the right blog for your business takes careful consideration. 

How will my visitors look for my content?

How people find content on your blog is call “navigation” and numerous common methods are used:

1. Order of presentation. Some vistors will simply read the content in the order it’s displayed on the screen.
   • In full. If you achieve a large following, your most recent article should always display in full on your blog home page. This is because visitors have already read your previous entries and they will usually want to read your recent article and then leave.
   • Most recent. It is nice to include the most recent (10 or so) articles on the home page, this encourages new visitors to read on. This is not suitable for blogs using lots of images as the page could become bloated and slow to load.
   • Excerpts. You may choose to include only excerpts on the home page. These are small summary paragraphs which click through to the full article. But beware, the excerpts need to create interest.
   • Category search. Posts can be assigned to a category. The number of categories you decide on will depend on your business and the frequency of your post. Ideally, if you have more than eight categories you should consider sub categorising and so on. Using categories as the main navigation method is useful for larger blogs with lots of content and blogs with many contributors. It is not relevant if the content is date sensitive. For example, technology articles might be out dated quite quickly and therefore it’s not important for people to be able to search via category.
2. Archive/date search. Visitors are usually able to find content based upon the published date. I prefer to read personal blogs in date order, it brings me closer to the author and I like the time line. If your blog is being used for news & events, a date search is really important. 
3. Blog search. It’s always nice to include a search tool, however, visitors will only use this as a backup if the main navigation is not adequate or they are looking for a specific post. Ensure that it is easy to find but it does not need to take up a lot of screen space.
4. Browse. First-time visitors like to browse. To encourage browsing you should include as many options to find content as possible including: internal links and next/previous options.
5. Active posts. Many blogs include a recent comments section which link through to blogs with recent activity.
6. Integrated menu. If the real goal of your blog is to drive traffic to your main website then you should consider integrating the main website menu into your blog.  This means that users can easily find your main website and don’t get “trapped” in your blog.

It’s fine to encourage all methods of navigation but it’s useful to decide on one method for the primary navigation. A useful exercise is to rank the different types above in order of importance.

Where should the main menu live?

Your primary navigation (menu) should be easy for visitors to spot, higher up the page, more prominent and allocated enough space. Your menu will usually be placed across the top of the screen (horizontal menu) or down the left hand side (left hand menu). I often see the menu on the right, which is acceptable, but remember that will be the first section of the page to be hidden on smaller monitors (and therefore visitors might need to scroll to reach it).

1. Horizontal menu. This type of navigation is fixed in size and can only accommodate a small number of categories (I’d say 8-12 max). It’s possible to use drop down menus for sub categories, but these are harder for people to use, not useful for people with disabilities and don’t always work on all browsers or devices (such as iPhones and Blackberry’s). I would recommend avoiding a drop down menu if at all possible, at the very least offer a text based alternative.
2. Left hand menu. By far the most appropriate place to position a larger or expanding menu is down the left of your content. This options allows for many more options including larger menus with sub categories.

How often should I post and how long should they be?

I often hear that the magic number is at is at least three times a week. However, the truth is the frequency of posts should be calculated based upon your goals and the return on your investment (time). 

1. Frequent posting. Posting three times a week (or more) is great if you require lots of repeat visitors or if your goal is to build up lots of content for SEO purposes. But remember to measure the return on your time and to avoid publishing low quality content. Generally, if you are posting frequently you’ll want to keep your articles short and snappy.
2. Less frequent. If the goal of your blog is to simply demonstrate an authority on your topic (valid where you are selling large value items to less customers) you do not need post quite so often. High quality and low quantity content is also perfect for encouraging back links. Your posts can be longer, more technical and more in depth.
3. Not Frequently. If you do not intent on posting very frequently, there is little point in featuring the date in your posts. Leave it out and avoid putting off visitors.

How personal does the blog need to be?

1. The personal blog. If you are the owner of a small business then you may opt for a personalised blog. You may personalise with your photo, the style of your writing and use of graphics.
2. The company blog.  For larger companies you may have a team of individuals posting on the blog, the blog may even be used more for PR, News & Event – in which case it can be more corporate.  If may be useful to include a bio for each contributor so that visitors can meet the authors – but this will depend on your business goals.

How much interaction should I encourage?

One great blog features is the ability to allow visitors to post comments on your posts. But don’t just use the feature because it’s available. Comments can be subject to abuse and you’ll need to monitor them closely.  If you do want to encourage lots of comments, then remember to ask for them and always respond to people quickly. Alternatively, you might not want to allow comments or you may choose to turn them off for some articles only – all up to you and your goals.

To summarise – As with all marketing, there is no “one size fits all” approach. The way you manage your blog will depend on your goals, your company and the resources available.  Your blog and your approach to managing your blog should be as unique as your business.

Productivity-boosting tools for startups

As the founder of an organisation that helps small businesses grow, one of the key challenges owners often face is how can they boost their productivity? At a basic level, increasing productivity starts with developing an optimised, streamlined workflow for day-to-day administration.

Thankfully, there are literally dozens of tools that can help you do just that. Here are a few of the ones I use.

• Echosign – do you ever need to get a contract or other important document signed quickly? Echosign provides a simple solution, that allows your clients to sign documents electronically and send them straight back to you.

• MessageBase – a state-of-the-art telephone answering services and virtual office that provides a range of products for businesses of all sizes.

• Paymo – for those who need to keep a tab on how much time they’re spending on a project, this time-tracking and invoicing utility comes in pretty handy.

• Dropbox – an incredibly user-friendly online backup utility that allows you to sync and share all your files without any hassle. New users automatically receive 2GB free storage, after which various premium plans are available.

• Teambox – an amazing project management toolkit, ideal for virtual teams and client collaboration.

• Hootsuite – a social media dashboard that allows you to manage all your social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc) in one place.

• Evernote – acts as a second brain that allows you to save and manage information in one place. 

• Highrise – a web-based customer relationship management (CRM) system that simplifies managing contacts, leads and sales. 

Ruben Kostucki of www.seeducation.org

The world of print: looking back and forward

2010 was a strange year for the printing world. At time of writing we are 11 months into the year, and while the market has grown and there have been enhancements in printer technology that benefit small offices, there has been no real advance that’s blown the market open.

So what benefits emerged in 2010, and what can you look forward to in the next year?

A market of independence – printers without computers

USB... Ethernet... Pictbridge...Card readers... Wireless support... Internet-ready... The connectivity of printers has gone through the roof, with most of these features now expected as standard for the printer to even sit in our offices.

Full access to the printer’s settings is now available on LCD screens (some of which are now detachable like a tablet PC). With huge attention being paid to usability and functionality of these menus, soon you won’t need anything other than your printer for your entire image and document printing demands.   

A market of choice - Ink and laser boundaries are gone (…ish)!

Start-ups can rejoice. You are no longer trapped between choosing a low-volume laser printer or medium-volume inkjet machine, both with equally high costs-per-page.

A fantastic range of higher volume ink cartridges and inkjet printers hit the market throughout 2010, providing competitive choice for those who print around 500 pages a month. With some ink cartridges printing up to 1,000 pages a pop, for a much lower start-up cost than similar-sized laser printers, the market is well set for even bigger ink cartridges in 2011.

A market of ... stagnation?

Whether induced by the recession, or manufacturers hiring less inspirational folk, 2010 was a bit of a disappointment.

In the home printing market manufacturers continue to push model after model of identical specifications, with only a few printers being worthy of increasingly demanding consumers. Not particularly inspiring stuff. But the laser printer market was the real disappointment.

“New smallest machine”, “New even smaller laser printer”, “New tiniest-ever colour laser”. Manufacturers seem obsessed with ergonomics and aesthetics, when the market is crying out for a financially viable, low-to-medium volume laser printer. If the printer is good enough, the office will make it fit. Ignore the size and appearance and put some work into performance boys, 2010 was not good enough.

A market of the future

But what of 2011 for the small and medium office environment?

Be prepared for value-per-page to increase as competition and market saturation pushes costs down. Expect a complete redesign of the appearance of small business printers, making them visually appealing and less of an eye sore in the home office. Look out for the rise and evolution of internet-ready printers, opening up your office to a whole host of printing features and possibilities that are simply too numerous to talk about here. With huge implications – not just for internal documents but also how you communicate and present yourself to customers – I would definitely advise you to do your research and watch this space.

Matt Bird of printer cartridge supplier, StinkyInk