Business Insights

These days anyone can have a blog, from high-school students to grandmothers who gush about their grandchildren. But if you’re using your blog to connect to others in your field, to contribute useful knowledge, share your expertise, and ultimately promote your business and services, you have to do things that high-school students and grandmothers don’t take the time to do. These things could boost your blog’s traffic and give your business more exposure than you ever thought possible.

1. Get a Personal Domain Name
Your business will definitely seem more professional and serious if your blog’s URL doesn’t end with blogspot.com or wordpress.com. It is extremely affordable (only $8 a year!) to get your own domain name. It makes even more sense for a business if you compare this expense to traditional marketing costs.

2. Always Include Related Posts
Consider that with one visit, someone may actually end up seeing 2, 3, or 4 more articles. And might even end up finding an article they enjoyed more than the one that brought them to the blog in the first place. You can show related posts in two ways: a) reference previous articles with links included directly within the body of the text, or b) use a plugin to automatically generate them.

3. Hint at Upcoming Content
Post great, valuable contributions, then promise Part 2. Develop a series of in-depth related articles for one really great topic. Or simply give them a taste, a teaser of which fascinating aspect of the industry you’ll cover next. Make the reader feel that if they don’t subscribe, they’ll be missing out on something.

4. Exchange Guest Posts
Contact a blogger from within your industry and offer to contribute valuable insights, with of course, the offer to reciprocate. Think about it. You can have a guest blogger (a writer/author/specialist with a serious, professional rep is always the best, or at least someone with some experience in the industry) and make an appearance in another’s blog to not only share your interesting contributions, but also direct readers back to your own blog.

5. Interact with Your Readers
Read and reply to comments. Try to get to know your audience. After a while you may see the same names keep popping up, so acknowledge them, thank them for their remarks, and tell them you appreciate them. More importantly, answer their questions. You may even dedicate a few posts to frequently asked questions/doubts. Soon you’ll develop a loyal following.

6. Comment on Your Readers’ Blogs
This will give your blog more credit and a more serious standing in the community, as people get the idea that you’re not the superstar of the blogging universe, and you take the time to read and find out what others are saying about the topics you cover.

7. Start a Web 2.0 Marketing Campaign for Your Blog
The main goal of any marketing campaign is to spread the word, create a buzz and get people talking about your blog. There are social networking sites where you can promote your blog. Among the most popular today are Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, Flickr, just to name a few.

8. Offer a Print Version of Your Posts
Although most people read content directly from their computer screen, it’s always a great idea to give users the option to print your articles. Those that appreciate this will surely keep returning to your blog.

9. Encourage Readers to Subscribe Via E-mail
Naturally, you can have people subscribe to your RSS Feed, but e-mail subscriptions are all the more effective. Your loyal readers will be able to receive word about your latest post, the moment it’s posted, directly sent to their inbox. It’s a great way to remind them about your blog and keep them coming back for more.

10. Do not Restrict Access
Do not, in any way, shape, or form, set obstacles for your readers, like requiring them to log on before leaving comments. This will only discourage them, and they´ll never come back to your blog.

The importance of having a loyal following cannot be overstated. Loyal readers will not only come back for more of what they like, but will also spread the word about what you’re doing and what valuable contributions, guidance, insights, you offer to the community. Can you think of a better way to promote your services?

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An outdated organization will not fare well in the rapidly changing business climates of today.  A business must be constantly renewing and refreshing their methods and practices. Leaders, managers, business consulting firms, and business coaches all agree that companies must do today those things that will pave the way for business success tomorrow.  If your organization is falling behind, consider taking these actions towards improvement.

Think Global
The days are long gone where business and new clients came only from the local neighborhood.  With technology changing as rapidly as it is, the world is now an open marketplace.  Businesses must work to make their products and services appealing to customers around the globe.

Stay Current
As technologies and procedures change, business practices must change too.  Keep on top of trends in the marketplace and in your industry both at home and around the world.

Invest
Falling behind is often a result of failing to spend sufficient time and money on developing your business.  Try not to look at money spent on training, development and technology as costs but rather as investments that will help improve your financial future.

Embrace Change
It’s an extremely competitive business world.  Competing will often require change.  While change can be frightening and always involves risk, it is a necessary component of progress.  The path to change is a much easier road to follow if it is looked upon as an adventure rather than a threat.  As a leader, manager or coach, your attitude towards change will be the one taken on by your employees, clients or co-workers.  Set a good example and everyone will march forward into new territory with a positive attitude.

Acknowledge the Good
A business’ best assets are its people, most importantly those who are on board with moving into the future. Learn to recognize those employees who are willing to change, learn, grow and participate.  These are the people to reward, train and invest in as part of the company’s future.

Discard the Bad
There will always be some employees who don’t want to change.  A business can spend huge amounts of time, money and energy trying to convince these die-hards to move with them into the future, often to no avail.  Being a future contender in the global marketplace may mean finding ways to move these folks out of the company.

Fight Complacency
Oddly enough, the successes so rigorously pursued, are often what most hold us back.  Why mess with something when it’s going good?  But such an attitude can often impede future growth and future successes.  Too often a business will unknowingly fall farther and farther behind its competitors while basking in its present success.  To quote the eloquent Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes: “The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving.”

A clear and determined focus on moving ahead, embracing change and a positive approach to continuous learning will help any business become a force to be reckoned with in the future.

***OneCoach is hosting a LIVE teleconference (5 Questions EVERY Business Owner Must Answer In Order to Thrive in the Current Business Environment) Wednesday, February 10 at 5 p.m. Pacific time. Click here to register now!***

If you liked this article, tell all your friends about it. They’ll thank you for it. If you have a blog or website, you can link to it or even post it to your own site (don’t forget to mention www.onecoach.com as the original source).

After redesigning over 100 websites I now have a pretty good idea about the most common web design mistakes.

If your site is making some of these mistakes, fix them now! Otherwise, you are leaving money on the table every single day.

1. Bad Layout
Your navigation and layout have to be simple, obvious, and intuitive. If you expect your visitors to figure out how to get to where they want to go, prepare for them to leave. Don’t make them think, make it obvious for them. Forget about “cool” navigation. Make it simple and elegant.

2. Slow Websites
Keep your website light so it loads fast. There is nothing more annoying than those “Loading… 1%” messages. People don’t want to wait. Studies show that if a website takes more than 8 seconds to load, 21% of your visitors will leave and if it takes more than 20 seconds to load, 43% of your visitors will be gone! This is a tragedy. There are ways to achieve excellent designs that are also very light.

3. Bad Colors Choice
Most web designers are not professional graphic designers. They never learned what colors work well together and most importantly, what different colors mean. Make sure your website uses the right colors for your market and it is not hard on your visitors’ eyes.

4. Bad Music Selection
In most cases I am against music at all. I am talking about music that auto-plays (background music). A lot of people will visit your website from work and they don’t want annoying music popping up. Music also makes websites slow to load. If you decide that you want to have music on your website, choose the right one for your audience.

5. Under Construction Pages
What is the purpose of “Coming Soon” pages? This looks really unprofessional. Just don’t have them at all! Who wants to read an “Under Construction” message? If you want to generate curiosity about a section that you will be adding soon, have some teaser copy and possibly a list-building box: “Sign Up to Be Notified When We Release this Feature”.

6. Information is Hard to Find
This happens very often with your phone number and email address. Let’s say you own a restaurant. Most people visit your website to get your phone number and make a reservation. Put your number at the very top and make it huge!

7. Ads on Commercial Websites
If your website is supported by advertising, displaying ads is your business. But if your main stream of income is not advertising, get rid of ads. They look really unprofessional and they make you look needy.

8. Low-Resolution Images
There is nothing that makes me angrier than web designers who use low-resolution images. They look terrible! There are ways to optimize images so they are both light and visually appealing.

9. Splash Screens
Don’t waste your visitors’ time. They are on your website to learn about your company and services, not to see how talented your graphic designer is and the cool animations he can do for you. Don’t force them to take an extra step. They want information. Give it to them.

10. Passive Marketing
Your website is an excellent opportunity to tell prospects why your company is better than the competition, why they should buy from you, and ask them to take action. Be proactive.

Always make sure that your website is properly serving your potential and existing clients!

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In the last year, social media has become very popular.  Everybody is talking about it and almost every online marketer has used it. However, most of them have failed at it. Why? They just don’t get the way it works. I am about to share with you some of the things we discovered promoting over 80 clients using social media.

1. Don’t Steal Other People’s Work
I see this all the time. Someone takes the time to create a group, sends them great information, and builds a relationship with his followers. Then someone else wants to take advantage of this group that took the owner so much work to put together and starts posting promotional comments about his own company. Needless to say, these comments are always removed and the poster ends up looking like a spammer. If you want to succeed in Social Media, create your own group and post your own content, don’t try to cash on someone else’s efforts.

2. Avoid Self-Promotion
Don’t talk about yourself and your company all the time. People don’t care about it. Give them something of value, build relationships, and get people to trust you. Let them know what you do but don’t try to sell them anything. They will call you when they are ready to buy.

3. First Give, then Ask
Don’t you just hate it when someone sends you an email every other day asking you to do something (check out a website or register to get their free ebook) but they don’t do anything for you? We encourage some of our clients to join lead groups. The first thing we recommend that they do is to send leads to other members. Then these members start sending leads their way. That’s how it works. 95% of the people take, take, and take. They never give. Do things the other way around and I guarantee that you’ll be noticed.

4. Use Your Real Name
I get about 10 friend requests per day on Facebook and LinkedIn from companies. I ignore all of them. If you want to network with me, tell me who you are and show me your face.

5. Do It Only if You Enjoy It
I love meeting people and networking. I love having conversations with strangers and exchange ideas. I am not always thinking about how I can make money out of the person I am talking to. If you don’t enjoy the process, you are not likely to be successful at it. People can read between lines and they can tell if all you care about is their money.

6. Don’t Annoy Your Followers
Send them a message or a request only if they will be useful to them and don’t do it ten times per week. I immediately unsubscribe from lists that send me more than 3 messages per week. This guy sent me 15 emails per day last week! That’s not the way to get others to buy your stuff. Monitor the number of people that unsubscribe from your lists. If that number is too high, revise your strategy.

Follow these tips and you’ll have a strong basis in utilizing social media for your business!

In the last six years I have analyzed over 500 websites. It is incredible how the exact same mistakes keep appearing time and time again.

The main reason for this problem is that a great percentage of web designers forget that a website is a way of communicating and growing a business. They feel they need to shock their clients with animations and cool graphics.

Don’t get me wrong. Clean and professional graphics are a very important component of a successful website. But they are not everything.

I’ve put together a list of the seven most common mistakes that website designers make and how you can avoid them.

Overlooking the goal of the website
Every website has a goal. You probably sell products online. You probably offer professional services and want your visitors to fill out a contact form or find your phone number. You probably sell software and want your visitors to download a trial version.

No matter what your goal is, you have to make it easy for your visitors to take the action that you expect them to take. As a rule of thumb, you need to use contrast to emphasize the element that you want your visitors to see (add to cart button, download now button, contact us link, etc.)

Make it obvious for your visitors and you will convert many more of them into actual leads or customers.

Not writing excellent copy
A clean, professional, and easy to navigate design is very important. But it is not enough.

When people visit your website you have less than 3 seconds to give them a good reason to stay or they will leave. You have to be able to communicate why your business is better than the competition and why should your prospects give their business to you and not to someone else.

You know your industry better than anybody else. Think about the major motivation that moves people into buying the product you sell. Is it product quality, price, reliability, duration, company’s reputation? Find out what prospects are looking for and give it to them.

Having too much clutter
This one drives me nuts. It seems like some website designers try to put as much stuff as they can fit on a page. There are two main problems with that. It makes everything hard to read and it is difficult for the important elements to stand out.

When it comes to website design, less is more. Use blank spaces. It makes the text easier to read and the information easier to find. Don’t clutter your pages. Please don’t.

Not understanding the basic design principles
These are the four most important design principles.

Alignment: every element has to be aligned with other elements. Don’t just place elements randomly on your websites.

Repetition: use the same fonts, colors, and elements across your website. If you use red Times New Roman text for your headline on your About Us page, don’t use a different color or type on the Contact Us page. (And please never use Times New Roman for a headline!)

Contrast: I’ve seen so much black text on dark blue background that it has made me sick. Make the text contrast with the background and the most important element of the page stand out.

Proximity: put together similar elements. Let’s say you have 6 sections on your website: cars, trucks, RVs, Home, Contact Us, and About Us. You don’t want to put cars between About Us and Contact Us. You want to group cars, trucks, and RVs. Maybe even put them under a new menu item called Our Products.

Not making the website intuitive
How many times have you been browsing a website looking for something and couldn’t find it even though you knew it had to be there somewhere?

You have to make things easy to find. If most of the people who go to your website contact you by phone, put your phone number right in front of them, big and above the fold.

Not testing the website on different browsers
If you are not a web designer, you might not know this, but almost all the websites look different on different browsers. Maybe your website looks great on Firefox but not on Internet Explorer. Or maybe most PC browsers display it well but some Mac browsers show it all broken.

A professional website designer will run a cross-browser compatibility test to make sure that every visitor can see your website correctly.

Avoid these key mistakes and you’ll be on your way to marketing a more powerful website!