AB: All-Round Nice Guy

Search engine *what*? Yes, yes, sorry if I use too many ‘big words’ this month, but for a lot of businesses, ‘optimising’ your site so that it appears higher in the big search engines is well worth the effort.

So, up front: what is search engine optimisation?

SEO (*much* easier to write than ’search engine optimisation’) is the process of preparing your web site so that it ranks higher on the search results page of a search engine. The aim is to be seen before your competition - and even though it may or may not result in more clicks through to your web site, at least you were *found* - from that position, you can work on ways to increase your conversion/click-through rate. If you consider the reverse position, where your web site does not feature at all for a given search, then trivial things like your conversion rate won’t matter at all if no-one can find you.

So how the heck to we make sure our site is featured prominently for any given search? And how do I make sure my site is listed before my competitor’s site?

Well, I’m glad you asked. Read on…

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, a business plan is one of the cornerstones of any new or expanding business - it’s simply the distilling and compiling of your knowledge into one source, either for your own reference, or for the reference of your staff or stakeholders.

Again, those immortal words: Don’t Panic.

A business plan should never be an anchor or a dead weight dragging your business down - and it should never be an onerous task to put one together.

The good news is that there are 3 wildly different types of business plans - each one focussing on a different business purpose - and one of these types of plans should suit your needs perfectly, without undue effort.

Don’t believe me? Read on…

OK, so why am I giving you a run-down of how to start a new business or launch a new product or service - when the economy is all over the place, and business and consumer confidence is falling like a lead balloon…?

The answer is actually simple: the next wave of new businesses and new product and services are usually born during periods of economic slowdown, since it is *during* these times that all the half-thought-through ideas fall by the wayside, leaving only the truly remarkable remaining.

So… don’t despair - in fact, get your thinking cap on, and see what new product or service or solutions to everyday problems lies waiting dormant within your brain!

You know that I love to talk about marketing, especially for small businesses and solo business people - and, in general, how important it is, but in a ‘big cloud’ kind of way. That’s because marketing is vital for any business - it’s simply the act of getting your name out there in a controlled and positive way.

Nine times out of ten, though, marketing is almost impossible to measure: apart from focus groups, surveys and TV ratings, any effort you spend on marketing tends to pay off as a rather long term positive ‘aura’ surrounding your business. It’s all a bit ‘woofy’, but it does add up eventually.

Enter web site statistics: whether you have a tiny one-page ‘contact me’ web site, or a small brochure online, or a larger ecommerce or content-based web site, every person that visits your web site leaves their own individual, indelible mark.

Don’t panic - any one person can’t be identified exactly, but an awful lot can be inferred from the patterns of even just a few site visitors over time, and an awful lot more can be inferred from the patterns of many hundreds or thousands of visitors to your site, giving you - and this is important - absolute knowledge of the effectiveness of your web site, and absolute knowledge of the location, size and trends of your market.

Interested in learning more then? I thought so - you don’t hear the words ‘absolute’ and ‘marketing’ together very often!

Marketing your business is both a dark art, and an inspired work - that is, even with the best of intentions, marketing is a lot of trial and error, and plenty of hit and miss. Sometimes you make gains with bold new initiatives, but other times you’re just one of the many messages that radiates daily from the business world.

To use just *one more* cliché, the important point here is not to put all your eggs into the one basket - spreading around different marketing strategies is just the same theory as in the investment world: spread your risk, and make a secure return overall.

One of the best ways to spread your marketing message is to cover both extremes: highly targeted, under-your-nose type things, as well as far-reaching, low cost-per-view type things.

One of the best highly targeted marketing tools is a direct mailout - a brochure/catalog/catalogue/cattle dog - call it what you will, it’s either read voraciously, or used as a bin liner by millions daily.

And at the other end of the spectrum, one of the best ways to mass market is via the humble web site - build it and they will come… perhaps…?

It’s fitting that web sites without any changing content are back-handedly referred to as ‘brochureware’ in the industry, since both paper-based brochures and virtual brochures have both the ability to communicate strong marketing messages about your business, as well as ability to bore your customers to tears.

Since we’re aiming for ’strong messages’ here, and not for ‘bored to tears’, the following will show you the strengths and weaknesses of both types of brochure, when to use which one, and how to use *both* online and offline marketing to make good investments in your small business marketing.

OK - bear with me here - before I tell you how to have a more successful 2008, I’m going to talk about the *brand* of your business for a few paragraphs - but don’t go all glassy-eyed on me, OK?

In simple terms, the brand of your business is the total message your business communicates to your customers. It’s the sum of your logo, your shop fitout, your customer service, and your business ethos - everything that adds up to ‘the real you’ in business terms.

In pure marketing terms, ‘branding’ and ‘brand management’ are complex concepts that are often vague and immeasurable - so much so that small business owners don’t often invest too much time in ‘their brand’ - well, not knowingly, at least.

The great news is that the smaller a business you are, the more your own personal ethos infiltrates your business, to the point where your business reflects the person *you* are, and vice-versa - in effect, your own values and beliefs shape your business, and hence how your customers perceive your business
- your brand.

In short, for a small business, the big picture of your brand takes care of itself - all you have to do is keep on making small, smart improvements to your business marketing each year.

With that in mind, here’s some top tips for reviewing and re-invigorating your business in 2008.