Posts Tagged ‘Business’

August11

Speed Networking

By: Ben Kelly

Another post unrelated to pure web strategy, however – Speed Networking is pretty good. I tried it today for the first time, and I have to admit, I quite liked it. Here are the rules:

  • You have a given amount of time (60 seconds or so) to pitch.
  • You then listen to the pitch from the person opposite.

It’s that simple.

My advice:

  • Break the rules.
  • Whatever you do, condense it down to 30 seconds. Keep it simple. "Hi. I’m Ben. I help businesses develop strategies that make their websites work. If you have an existing website, I look at it to determine what’s working, what isn’t, and make sure it fits your business goals and strategy. If you don’t have a website, I make sure you develop it based around what your business needs." 30 seconds. Then ask them to do the same. Then find out how you can help each other.
  • Take plenty of business cards.
  • Speak loudly and clearly.
  • Listen.
  • Follow up every lead.

That’s it.

Really, it’s quite good fun (though headache inducing!), and the time will pass very quickly. If you are lucky, you’ll end up with some good leads. Worst case, you get a chance to practice your pitch over a dozen times – and it’s worth it for that alone.

Good luck!

Ben

Posted in: Networking0 comments

July30

Speed Yourself Up

By: Ben Kelly

I rarely discover software that I really genuinely like. For every good bit of software, there are 9 that wind me up or do things in such a clunky way I wish I had never bothered. Ever now and then though, you find a gem. Something that’s so exciting your mouth drops with excitement and you go beyond generally enthusiasm into the world of oh-my-god-this-will-change-my-life-and-all-those-around-me-quick-call-the-wife-my-mother-the-kids-the-dog-the-old-man-down-the-road-this-is-epic.

Today was one of those days.

Auto Hot Key

If you are on a mac, stop reading. Seriously. Because this will destroy your love of all things reflective and shiny. This will make you want to go back to the dark days of being a PC user.

I can code, but I am not a brilliant coder. I’m remarkably average, and really quite slow. This is fine, because I don’t do much coding. Why do I bring this up? Because you have to do a tiny, and I mean tiny amount of coding to do this. Don’t worry though, and don’t be put off. It’s quick to learn, and they hold your hand the whole way through it.

And trust me, it’s worth it.

Do you ever find yourself frustrated and doing slow repetitive tasks? Or having to click half a dozen times through Windows Explorer to get to the folder your client’s files are stored in. What about writing out the same thing over and over again?

This software takes care of that. For example, rather than typing out "ben@alphawavemedia.co.uk" I now type "b@a" – and it instantly does the rest. What about a signature? I type "bbb" and it writes my e-mail signature out for me.

As well as that, I now type WIN+W to launch Dreamweaver, WIN+G to launch G-mail and WIN+A to open my Highrise HQ account (more on that later, it’s another epic tool).

WIN+X in Outlook – archives whichever e-mail I have selected. It was worth it for that one alone. Shortcut keys are the way forward. You will speed up your life dramatically if you give this a try.

Ben

Posted in: Programming0 comments

July16

So what?

By: Ben Kelly

Here’s a quick exerice to help you focus your website. After every sentence, item, image or gadget, ask yourself the question "so what?"

It’s so easy to keep adding to your site, or writing more content because you think it’s what’s needed. What really matters is making sure that what’s on your site is having an impact. If it isn’t, then so what?

Ben

Posted in: Copywriting, Design, Text0 comments

July7

Laser focus vs shotgun approach

By: Ben Kelly

No. This is not a post on firearms (real or fictional), or about the best way to take down a Storm Trooper. This is a post on making sure your website reflects your company’s approach.

There are two kinds of company: the ones that try to do a wide range of things, and the ones that focus on a single area of expertise, or a single product, and focus all their energy upon this like a laser. Here’s two examples of what I mean:

1. Shotgun

Tesco’s. If you want something, the chances are you can get it from Tesco’s. In fact, the chances are that you can get 90% of all the stuff you need from Tesco’s, and the rest probably isn’t "essential" anyway. The more I think about it, the more I struggle to think of situations where you can’t get everything from your local super-store (haircuts, and dental work spring to mind – but they aren’t consumables in the strictest sense – and if you view your dentist as a consumable, then you have issues far beyond what this blog can solve. I digress). Tesco’s have a bit shotgun loaded with popular products, and they fire it at people.

Unsurprisingly, their website does the same thing.

2. Laser

On the other end of the spectrum, are companies like Black Circles (who sell only car tyres), Monster Tackle (who only sell fishing accessories), and The Dolls House Emporium. I’m not a massive fan of any of these (OK, I do have a penchant for car tyres), but if I need a specialist product, I’m left in no doubt after visiting these sites that I’ve come to the right place.

So what about you?

This blog is targeted at SME’s in the UK. It’s therefore likely that you are a laser focused company, and specialise in a particular niche. At the very least, you’ll likely be providing a particular type of service, or selling B2B in a particular industry. And if you aren’t, that’s fine too. It doesn’t matter whether or not your business is successful by having laser focus, or by wielding a shotgun, what matters is:

Make sure your website mirrors your approach.

If you are a shotgun, have a website packed full of information and products. Your customers will expect it, and it will work well – it mirrors what you do. However, if you are a laser, make sure that your website is ONLY focused on what your company offers, and how it brings benefit to your potential customers. Everything else must go.

Though I try and follow my own advice, I will admit I’m guilty of the same thing. I make websites, and I develop excellent strategy for website owners. The real value of what I do lies in the latter, but in any case, they work hand in hand. On my website, www.alphawavemedia.co.uk, on the services page I list "hosting". Hosting is something that I do as a reseller, and the service I provide is your standard excellent top of the range package. Hosting is cross-selling to existing clients, and for as long as I continue to do it in an excellent fashion, it will always be profitable. And yet, I’ve never had a customer come to me for hosting, and then ask for a website. It’s always website first.

Why on earth do I have hosting as a separately listed service on my website? Well I don’t. Not any more. Why? Because I am laser focused on providing excellent web strategy. I do this by building websites, improving existing websites, and running effective online marketing campaigns.

Go through your website, and see if you can cut any fat out. The websites I listed above work because they are completely focused on what they do. If you are an SME and your customers are coming to you online, it’s because they want to find the real specialists in the field, not the jack-of-all-trades. If they wanted an online shop that did everything, they’ve got a dozen places to go already. Add value by focusing on your core services and products.

Why does this matter? Because once you’ve made that work, and have a good following and happy customers, THEN you can expand and bring in new products. Amazon used to sell books, Play.com used to sell only DVD’s. Get the niche right, then expand.

Ben

Posted in: Copywriting, Design, Usability0 comments

May26

Good Advice vs Right Advice

By: Ben Kelly

I know a guy who loves to give advice. He just can’t help but have an opinion on everything. We all know someone like that. They aren’t hard to deal with.

What’s far tougher is when we receive really good advice from people who are experts in their field, or whom we consider to be especially wise. But surely receiving good advice can only be a good thing, right?

Sometimes.

Good advice isn’t always the right advice. Making the distinction between the two is what’s difficult. If I listened to some of the very good advice I’ve had, from some very successful people, I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing today (I’d be earning less, making someone else richer, etc…). Yet, it was still good advice? Why? Because from their perspective, it’s what they would do.

Good advice always comes with two caveats:

  • People are looking at the problem from their point of view.
  • Sometimes you need to make a mistake, learn from it, and get better.

You can tell a child a hundred times not to touch the hot flame – but it’s far better to let him touch it once, feel the heat, and learn for himself not to do it again.

Still, it’s the first point that’s more important to discuss, because it has a direct impact on how you build your web strategy. There are hundreds, thousands, of excellent professionals out there who build really good websites. These experts will be able to offer you very good advice on how to improve your website. Most of this advice will be very good, I truly believe that. But will it be the right advice?

Often times, it will. Sometimes though, it will be very good advice, that’s fixing the wrong problem. A new design won’t help you if your content is poor. SEO won’t help you if your customers rarely buy online, and only use your website for product support.

So how do you know when advice is good or bad?

  • Go with your gut feeling.
  • Become informed.
  • Get as many quotes as possible.
  • And maybe, just maybe, hire someone to sort out your web strategy…

Ben

Posted in: Marketing0 comments

© Copyright Alpha Wave Media Ltd 2009. All Rights Reserved.