Many small business owners and entrepreneurs are often disappointed by the fact that their website does not bring new clients and business opportunities as they would like. If you are one them then you need to figure out why your website is not attracting new clients and prospects. Here are my top 5 reasons why customers leave your website very quickly. As you read these points think about whether your website has any of these symptoms.
1. Brochure Like Website
Many business owners make the mistake of designing their website like a sales brochure. The website has terrific graphs and pictures of cool looking people. But the site seriously lack quality content. Websites that fall under this category often has a couple of pages of information about the business along with contact information. Because your website lacks quality textual information, search engines are not going to bring you any organic traffic. Gone are the days when a user judged a website based on the quality of graphics. Nowadays more and more users are looking for quality content. Customers are looking for advice and information to solve their problems. Therefore it is very important to focus on writing good content.
2. Outdated
Clients love websites that are regularly updated. By updating your website periodically, you are telling your customers that you are very active in your industry. If the last update date on your web pages are few years old, people will assume that you are not active in your industry.
3. Broken Website
Make sure that your website loads and displays properly on all major browsers. You have to make sure that your website works well in Internet Explorer, FireFox, Chrome, Opera and Safari.
4. Too Slow to Load
If your website takes a long time to load then people are more likely to leave your site without checking it. Slow loading website can also harm your SEO rankings. Select a good webhost. It is worth the investment.
5. Not User Friendly
Your website should be user-friendly in terms of navigation, accessibility and readability. It is important that you put yourself in your customers shoe and look at the website for their needs and requirements. Spend sometime with your website developer in nailing out the exact requirements for your site. Avoid technical jargon and pay close attention to the language used in your website. Do not leave these important decisions to the web developer.
Conclusion
It is extremely important that you give your website a soul. You do not have to spend thousands of dollars to build a quality website. But you need to give your time and closely work with your developers to make sure that the website truly reflects the nature of your business. Your developer might be an expert in web design, but she may not necessarily be an expert in your industry.
I have been using Twitter as the primary social media platform to promote my blog. Awhile ago I wrote a post titled 5 Social Media Tips and in that post I indicated the importance of using more than one social media network to promote your website. It is important not to put all of our social media efforts into a single platform because no one is sure which network is going to be the dominant player in the future. As stated in my post, do not put all of your eggs into one basket.
It looks like I was not following my own advice! So far most of my social media efforts have gone into Twitter and it is high time that I get into Facebook as well.
I am happy to let you know that my Facebook fan page is up and running. I hope this fan page will allow me to communicate with my followers and peers on a more personal way.
As you may be aware you need at least 25 members in your face book fan page to qualify for a custom URL (earlier this number was 100 but now Facebook has reduced it to 25). Right now I have only 15 followers and by getting 10 more followers, I will be able to secure my custom URL.If you are a regular reader of TechThinker, please join my fan page.
If you do not know how to secure a custom URL (also know as vanity URL) for your own fan page, you can read this informative article at TechHamlet.com.
You may have also noticed that TechThinker.com now has a new logo and tagline. I’ll write about these changes and my recent efforts in rebranding this blog in another post.
See you on Facebook. Thank You!
LG Electronics has released a very sleek netbook with a Gorilla glass screen. Right now you might be wondering what on earth is a Gorilla screen? The Gorilla glass is a nearly invincible glass that is scratch proof and virtually unbreakable. While the Gorilla glass has been used in mobile phones to protect the LCD screen, it looks like LG is the first company to build a Netbook with a protective Gorilla glass screen.
The X300 is actually a fully fledged laptop that is much thinner than the MacBook Air! The X300 is only 17.5 mm thick compared to the MacBook Air which is 19.3 mm thick. The X300 has a 2.0 GHz Intel Atom processor, 2GB of memory and a 128GB Solid State Drive(SSD). The LG X300 comes with Windows 7 Home Premium and a spare 2-cell battery to provide up to seven hours of use. The X300 does not use a motorized fan and it is whisper quiet.
LG X300 Netbook Photos:
Photo Credit: LG Electronics
Apple’s iPad is probably the first tablet device that is going to be used by the masses. The tablet concept has been around for a long time but no product has made its mark on the market. While iPad is aimed at the consumer market there are many potential business uses for this device. In this post I look at how businesses and professional services can make use of the iPad.
Presentation
iPad is a great device to do personal presentations without causing much distraction. For example, a wedding planner, who meets her client at their homes or at a coffee shop, can use the iPad to show banquet halls, table arrangements, wedding dresses etc. She can then use a spreadsheet to estimate the cost of the wedding by customizing the wedding package based on the clients needs and budget. She can easily pull the location of a banquet hall and give her clients the driving directions. The wedding planner is able to do all these activities without a laptop. As a transferable display the iPad makes the whole presentation much easier. The iPad allows the wedding planner to conduct her presentation in a less intrusive manner.
Working Light
Apple claims the iPad is a product that sits in between your smart phone and your laptop. But, for those business people who use their laptop only for communication, the iPad can replace their laptop when they are out of the office. The highly portable nature of the iPad will make it attractive to the mobile worker who is always on the go. You can take the iPad to places when a laptop may not be appropriate. Lets say that you are waiting to meet a client at a restaurant, until your client turns up you can do some quick work on your iPad. Setting up a laptop in such environment may not be appropriate. The iPad is great for places where you do not have much space to work on, for example, in an air plane. The iPad can be also be very useful in note taking. Whenever an idea comes to your mind, your can quickly sketch it or write a few words about it in your iPad.
Training
One area where the iPad can make a huge impact is in corporate training. The iPad can eliminate the need for manuals and work books. Unlike boring instruction manuals, the iPad can provide a more interactive platform for learning. Companies can save money on printing manuals and books. Training manuals and workbooks can be edited very easily eliminating the need for reprints. Companies can adopt a model where the employees can borrow the iPad throughout the training period. Once the training is over, you can use the iPad to capture trainee feedback in the form of a survey. The iPad can be also used for testing purposes, for example, a MCQ test that covers the whole course material.
Field Work
The highly portable nature of the iPad will make it a perfect device for field work in some industries. While the lack of a stylus (pen) limits the use of iPad in certain work environments where heavy data entry is required (example Health Care) the iPad might find its spot in some niche markets. For example, the fitness industry. A personal trainer can keep track of a client’s progress on his iPad tracking information such as lap times, body weight etc.
Conclusion
As you have seen in the above points, the iPad is well suited for business use. Having said that one obstacle that makes the iPad less impressive for business use is its inability to multitask. This could pose a problem for power users who may want to run more than one application at a time.
The business potential of the iPad will not be only determined by the features of the device. Future applications that are going to be built for the iPad will play a vital role in deciding how businesses will embrace it.
What do you think? If you are given an iPad how would you use it in your business?
Please feel free to share your opinion. Thank you!
On March 17, I will quit blogging!
Relax folks, I am not talking about myself. I am talking about veteran problogger Joel. For the last 10 years Joel has been blogging at JoelOnsoftware.com. Joel’s blog is regarded as one of the best blogs in the software industry. The main audience of the blog comprised of Software Developers. Joel was very successful in using his blog to launch his own software company Fog Creek Software.
But after 10 years of blogging, Joel is ready to go offline! Joel claims that his blog has provided a very narrow channel to promote his company and its products. Joel feels that the time and energy spent on blogging is better spent on other activities to broaden the channel to market his company. Joel says his company Fog Creek has become a big fish in a very small pond!
I am sad to see Joel leaving blogging for good. He is an expert in his field of software development.
This whole story has prompted me to think about who are the target audience for our blog.
I think Joel’s company became the big fish is a small pond because Joel’s readers were mainly Software Developers. JoelOnSoftware became popular because it was a well focused niche blog catering to a specific group of people. But the narrow niche nature of this blog may have been the reason why Joel could not broaden the channel for promoting his company. Software Developers are not managers and they are not in a position to make any buying decisions. This could be the reason why Joel couldn’t lead the big fish out of the small pond using his blog. Joel’s blog comprised of passionate readers but they were not decision makers.
Let’s take a simple example to illustrate this point. Let’s say that you are in the business of making candy. If you sell your products directly to kids, your business will not get the exposure it deserves. Your marketing plan should include ways to promote your products to other channels such as Super Markets, Corner Stores, Restaurants etc.
Even though Joel had a large group of followers, all of them came from the same category. This could explain why Joel couldn’t promote his business using his blog after a certain point was reached.
Another way to look at this issue is that Joel’s company has really out grown the need for a blog. Because the brand has become strong there is no need to attract clients using a blog.
What do you think? Is blogging applicable only to small companies? Is blogging a dying medium to promote your business? Love to hear what you think about this story.
What puzzles me is that why Joel decided to say goodbye to blogging for good. For example, he could have still continued blogging and saved time by cutting down the number of posts. I take this opportunity to wish Joel good luck in his future efforts to expand his business.
In my last post, I provided some tips for selecting a good username on Twitter. In this post I will give you some tips to get your profile picture right. The tips in this post not only apply to Twitter but also for other Social Networks.
Your profile picture is the first point of contact for a person who is interested in knowing more about you. Therefore, it is important that you give some thought into the selection of your profile picture. As a business owner you need to project the right image to your clients.
Here are some of my tips for selecting a good profile picture. These tips are more applicable for people who use Twitter for business purposes.
- Be yourself. Do not fake your personality. It is very important that your clients’ expectations about you are met if both of you had to meet face to face.
- Take the picture in a relaxed position. Wear clothes that your are comfortable with and ones that reflect your style and personality.
- Take the picture in a brightly lit environment.
- It is preferable to have a neutral color background.
- Do not have other distractions in your photo. For example, do not take a picture with your dog. Your clients are not interested in your dog. They are interested in getting to know you better.
- Only have other people and objects in your picture, if they are related to your business or profession. For example, if you are a professional Dog Trainer then you got to have a picture with a dog!
- Make direct eye contact on the picture, it is important that you come across as a confident person in the eyes of your prospective clients.
- Avoid Logos! If you own a business or a brand, do not use the logo as your profile picture. In social networks people are more interested in making connections to people, not organizations. Even if you use your company name as the username in your Twitter account, it is important to show your face in the profile picture.
- Keep your profile picture consistent across different networks such as Twitter, Facebook etc. This allows potential clients to easily recognize you.
- Take multiple pictures in different postures with varying smiles.
- Ask family and friends for their opinion. Get a vote. Choose the picture that gets the most number of votes.
I hope you found the above tips useful. Add your own tips in the comments section. Thank you.
As a business owner you may want to give some thought into the selection of your Twitter username. A good Twitter username can give you an advantage in marketing yourself or your business.
When it comes to Twitter usernames you have the following 3 choices:
1. Use Your Real Name (example @RichardBranson)
This is the best option for business owners who want to promote themselves directly. For example, if you are a real estate agent you may want to promote yourself to your local community. Using your real name is very effective on Social Networks because people are interested in making connection with a real person instead of a company. Also, this option is more suitable if you intend to use Twitter for personal use.
2. Use the Name of Your Business or Brand (example @TechThinker)
If people are going to find your business using your brand name then it is important to use your brand name as your Twitter username. For example, I use the name of my blog (TechThinker) as my username on Twitter since I want to promote my business under this brand name.
3. Use a Keyword Rich and Descriptive Name (example @WhatsOnToronto)
Some people prefer to use a keyword rich Twitter username that describes the nature of their business. For example, the username name @WhatsOnToronto is self explanatory. It is not hard to figure out what this Twitter profile is all about. Google pays a lot of attention to content generated by Social Networks. Therefore using a keyword rich username may allow you to take advantage of Google search results.
Tips for Selecting a Twitter Username
1. A Twitter Username cannot exceed the maximum 15 character limit.
2. A Twitter Username can be changed without creating a new account. You will NOT lose your followers due to a username change.
3. If you happen to change your username, make sure to immediately create a new Twitter account with your old username. Simply leave a tweet (in the newly created account) indicating the fact that you have moved to a new Twitter username.
4. If your real name is already taken, then try a username with initials (example @RobASmith) or try a name with an adjective or description (example @RealtorDavid).
5. Whenever possible try to keep your username short. Your username will consume characters when it appears on a tweet or retweet. Therefore, keep your user name as short as you can.
6. Avoid underscores(“_”) on your username. On many mobile phones it is often hard to type the underscore. Not all mobile phones support the underscore directly on the keyboard, even if the underscore is found on the keyboard it might be hard to locate it.
Do you have any other tips to choose a good username? Please share them below.
While Twitter as a company is not making any money, entrepreneurs and businesses can make money on Twitter in number of ways. Twitter is a very valuable tool to promote your brand, build relationships with clients and eventually make money by selling your products and services.
So, how your business can make money on Twitter? Here are some of my thoughts.
1. Promoting Products and Services
One of the most elementary methods to make money on Twitter is to promote your products and services. Deals and Contests are two techniques that you can use to promote your products on Twitter. Make sure that you do not over use these techniques. If you tweet about product deals very frequently your followers will probably ignore you.
2. Turn Followers into Marketers
This is a very powerful technique where you can turn your followers into marketers who are willing to sell your products. For example, you could pay your followers a referral fee for every product they sell for you. Alternatively you can reward your followers with a point system where they can earn points for referring products that can be later redeemed for something valuable.
3. Turn Followers into Creators and Helpers
If you are developing a product and want to get the best ideas, you can turn your followers into creators or helpers to deliver that product. For example, let us assume that you have developed a new software and want people to perform usability testing. People who follow your company on Twitter are probably interested in your software too. With in no time you will have many people willing to test your product and provide their feedback.
4. Reaching out to Clients in Different Geographic Locations
Twitter can be used as a broadcasting tool to reach new clients in different geographic locations. Let us assume that you conduct seminars and workshops on Personal Development. You travel the country city by city holding these workshops. You can tweet your workshop details and location information when you are in a city. This allows you to get new clients from that area.
5. Lead Generation
Using Twitter you can get new leads and convert them to loyal clients. The best way to do this is by adding value. For example, if you are a real estate agent you can use Twitter to provide various information relating to real estate. For example, mortgage advice, home staging tips, market trends etc. When you provide value, people are more likely to notice you. By adding value you become a trusted and credible source in your industry. When people view you or your business as the expert in the field, they are more likely to do business with you.
The above points are some ideas that came to my mind. Please note that this is not an exhaustive list. If you have other ideas and methods to make money on Twitter please feel free to share them below.
Photo Credit: luc legay’s photostream
Flavors.me is a simple site that pulls all your social media content into a single location. To use flavors.me you simply signup for an account and start importing your content from other services into flavors.me. The social media sites and services supported in flavors.me include Twitter, FaceBook, Tumblr, Posterous, Blogger, WordPress, LinkedIn, GoodReads, NetFlix, last.fm, YouTube, flickr, Four Square, Etsy and your blog’s RSS feed.
I like this service because it is very simple to use. Keeping track of a person across a number of social medial sites and services can be overwhelming. Flavors.me allows you to share all of your social content in a single location. The site has a minimalist and intuitive design.
You can check out my flavors.me page at http://flavors.me/techthinker
While flavors.me is free to use, the company provides a premium service for $20 a year. The premium service offers Custom Domain name support, web statistics and a contact form for your readers to contact you.
Check out this cool flavors.me video. I hope you like it.
Flavors.me from Jack Zerby on Vimeo.
Today, I did a reorganization of the categories in my blog. I had too many categories therefore it was time to reduce them and focus on the core topics that I want to concentrate. As I continue blogging, I am getting a much clearer picture on the direction I want to take this blog. Reorganizing the categories is my first initiative to make sure my blog stays on track with its goals and objectives. The next time when I have an idea for a post I will be checking to see whether that post will fall under any of these categories. If the post doesn’t qualify for a category, I will not be writing that post. This will make sure that I stay super focused on message and content that I am trying to promote in this blog. The following pie chart shows the percentage of posts by category at TechThinker.com. My next task is to rewrite the About Page of this blog.
