The Myth of B2B
What type of business do you think yours is? Business to business (B2B), selling to other businesses or business to consumer (B2C), selling to consumers? Both of these terms are misleading and, in the 21st century world of social networking, are dead concepts.
In reality, there is no such thing as a business. A business is a notional and legal entity. Instead we have individuals. Some “businesses” are single individuals, others are collections of individuals.
A business cannot manufacture. People do. Even if most of the work is done by machines, it’s people who control the machines. Businesses don’t do marketing. People do. And when we’re talking about who we sell to we don’t sell to businesses. We sell to individuals.
Read MoreMore on Google+
Further to my previous post I found this short video that gives a quick overview of Google+. That said, however, demand for accounts on Google+ has been so high that Google have temporarily closed the site for new accounts. So, if your interested, you’ll have to wait until they open the site again.
Read MoreGoogle+ – One to Watch
We all know about Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc. Many of us are aware of the benefits that these sites can bring in terms of promoting our businesses online. Now there’s a new kid on the block. And, if you hadn’t already guessed, it’s from Google. Google+, Google’s answer to Facebook etc.
Will it succeed? Time will tell. Competition in the social networking applications is pretty fierce now – Facebook already gets more impressions than search engines so is there room for another one? Who knows, but this is Google and anything could happen.
My advice is don’t ignore it. Check it out now. If it does become one of the major players in social networking then it could have a much bigger influence than the current crop of applications. Integration into Google search results is almost certain to happen at some point.
Read MoreTwo Things to Ask Your Web Developer
So you’ve decided to get a website for your business and you’ve found a company locally who’ll develop it for you. What are the most important things you’re going to ask them to provide on your site? The layout? The colours? The fancy flash header similar to one you saw on a website you recently came across?
Well you can ask for all those things and I’m sure your local web developer will be pleased to oblige, and charge for! But all these things are missing the point.
A good, professional design for a website is a given. You don’t want to pay money and have it look like it was designed by a 5-year old. But the key things it must do are:
- Attract visitors. That usually means being visible on search engines where people are going to find it.
- Convert those visitors to customers or customer enquiries.
If the site can’t achieve either of these things then it’s a complete waste of time and money. Sadly many web developers don’t consider these aspects when developing a site and are more concerned about showing off their design skills.
Don’t be a victim of the designers pretending to be web developers. Always ask these key questions:
- What will you do to get my site listed on search engines?
- What will you be designing into my site to persuade people to do business with me?
If they don’t have convincing answers to either of these questions then, bet your life, all you’ll be getting is a website that looks pretty but is pretty useless.
Read MoreMarketing Your Business and Advertising
“I’ve written books on advertising – chequebooks!”
That is a well known quote from Alan Sugar on the Apprentice TV programme and I, for one, can testify to the truth of it.
Over the years I have tried many ways to advertise my business; Yellow Pages, telemarketing, mailshots, email campaigns, ads in directories and journals, editorials and even radio. For my business, they’ve all proved to be a waste of money.
The only responses I’ve had to ads in directories and journals are from people asking me to put an ad in their directory or journal.
Read MoreWhat Does Your Home Page Say About You?
Do you wonder why your getting plenty of visitors to your website but very few enquiries or sales. If so read on.
When people arrive at your home page what’s the first thing they see? A splash page with a flash movie and a button saying “Click to Skip Intro”? Or a page full of waffle giving the history of your company starting with how your great-great grandfather started it in 1895?
Either way I not interested. I’m looking for a business that can supply me what I need. I’m not looking to be entertained or to get a local history lesson. If your site can’t show me in 5 seconds that you might be able to supply what I need, then I’m out of there to another site.
Don’t try to be clever. Keep it straightforward and simple. Follow what I call the “Four W’s Principle”.
Read MoreRecommended Reading
 
|
 
|
 
|
 
|
 
|
 
|
 
|
 
|
