Basic Small Business Blunders

Whether you’re just starting a new business venture or you’re a little more established, there’s a short list of things you definitely should not do. I like to call these, basic business blunders. They’re basic in that they’re the ABCs of starting out and marketing your business. They’re blunders because they’re bad business decisions.  It could be because I’m involved with marketing that I notice these types of things a little more, but my guess is that a percentage of your potential customers or clients may notice them too. 

Your Business Name 

We’ve previously written about the importance of your business name in, “Naming Your Business Is No Joke”. I encourage you to read that one if you haven’t already because it perfectly sums up the pitfalls of a bad business name.

I’ll also add that you should do the following simple steps after you’ve come up with a name and BEFORE you’ve done anything else:

1. Go to google and search that exact name. What comes up? More often than not, you’re going to discover quite a few things come up and you’re going to have to decide whether what comes up is going to conflict with your business at all. 
2. Go to the U.S. Patent & Trademark search website here. Use the basic word mark search tool and type in your business name. If nothing comes up, that’s a good indicator that you’ll probably be okay with the name you chose. If something does come up, you may want to rethink that name.
3. Check social media such as Twitter and Facebook and see if anyone else is using the name you’ve selected. 
4. Go to whois.com and type in your business name as a URL. If it’s already taken, you could run into problems with confusing people on the web (especially if you buy a .net or any of the other esoteric domains now being offered when the .com is owned by someone else).
5. If everything checks out with your new name, register it properly so that you’re a legal business.

If you’re starting a new business and you haven’t done all 5 of those things above, that’s a basic business blunder. If you’re already established and you never did any of those or only some of them, I’d recommend you look over that list again and check into the ones you didn’t do. Another business using your name could be more problematic than just competition, especially if they were using the name first. It also creates a real headache for your online as well as your offline marketing. Once you’re in the clear with the name (no one’s coming after you for infringement or you had been using the name first) you’re going to always have to work harder to differentiate your business from the similarly named one.

 Your Email Address

If you’ve set up a “business” email on any service other than with your website host for your own website (you do have your own website, right?), then this is a basic business blunder. I also have to admit that every time I see an email address like my-business-name@gmail.com (or yahoo, or even old dinosaurs like aol or hotmail) it’s like nails on a chalkboard for me. This one is like, beyond basic. Your own URL is the only professional email address you should ever use. I don’t care if you’ve been using your gmail account for 5 years, that needs to become your personal account and your business one should be something@your-own-domain-name.com. 

 Your Phone Number

Sure, you want to save costs with your business anywhere you can, but skipping out on a dedicated business phone number shouldn’t be one of them. Especially now with all the inexpensive voip options and “family plan” cell phone contracts out there. You’ve got zero excuse for still using a personal phone number for your business because doing so is a basic business blunder. And by all means, when you get that new phone number exclusively for your business, answer it in a professional manner, not just with, “Hello” or, “This is Jill”. Say your business name.

Your Business Card

Please don’t make the basic business blunder of trying to print these out on your home printer. Unless you’re a talented artist with a penchant for hand-crafting your own cards and the skill to perfectly use an exacto knife or paper cutter (and don’t mind doing them in small batches at a time), this will turn out poorly. The impression that handing out a home printed business card typically creates is that you’re too cheap to afford actual business cards, your business must not be doing that well if you had to print those yourself, or you really don’t care about the appearance of your business. Do you want that? I should hope not. Your very best option here is to work with a professional designer to create your cards. A designer will usually have contact with a good printer. You will make a great first impression when you hand out your custom crafted, professionally printed cards. 

The Next Step

If you’re starting a new business, you’ll definitely be starting off on the right foot by avoiding these 4 basic business blunders. If you’re already in business, it still might not be too late to get on the right path. Enlisting some help from professionals can get you moving in the right direction. 

Copyright S. Holub 2015. Original appears on http://www.jvmediadesign.com/blog/business/are-you-making-these-basic-online-business-blunders/

“But we spent a lot of money on this website in 2005!”

If your business “spent a lot of money” on a website sometime in the distant past, you may very well have cited that as a reason not to spend any more money on it. Even way past the point of a website’s design or functionality becoming long in the tooth, I have seen business owners vehemently defend their previous investment as still valid, years later. Here’s the kicker though – their investment was valid. Was being the operative word here. 

Programming pitfalls.

Many times, the reason a company doesn’t want to reinvest in their website is because they sunk a boatload of cash into custom programming something like a shopping cart or other complex database-driven functionality. They did so because, “back in the day”, that’s what you had to do. There weren’t as many nicely done pre-made options as today. Old programming may still be clunking away on the company site, but it’s like a computer running Windows 98. Sooner or later that thing is going to crash, and it’s highly likely no one will be there to pick up the pieces when it does. 

If your custom programmed solution has been running for 5+ years, it’s time for a reevaluation. At the very least, over those years there has probably been an issue or two where you discovered that you really needed to modify something. That’s a good place to start. Create a wish list of functionality you can share with a new programmer to develop an improved system that works better on the modern internet. 

The past is in the past.

Today’s internet is a lot different than it was even a few years ago. There are more mobile devices accessing websites than ever before. More people are making ecommerce purchases from their mobile devices. Google has rolled out a new algorithm that favors mobile sites in mobile searches. If your website was optimized for the web of 3+ years ago, it’s time to get with the times and reinvest in your site to make it work not only for your business, but for the audience you want to reach. 

Nothing is gathering virtual dust more quickly these days than a website that isn’t mobile friendly, takes a million and one clicks for a user to get somewhere, or uses defunct technology (yes, I’ve still seen Flash on some old websites).  So put the past behind you and look towards the future. 

Did you get burned?

Something that often goes along with paying a lot of money for a website, is not getting perceived value from that purchase. There have been businesses I have reached out to over the years because I knew I could improve their website only to find out that they, “paid a lot of money” to a company who promised them the world and delivered a dud. In their eyes, a website wasn’t a great investment in the first place so they’re hesitant to want to try the whole thing again with someone new.  That’s understandable, but it shouldn’t put a damper on improving your online presence and marketing. In the hands of the right, skilled, professional, you will see a return on your investment. 

The bottom line …

You know how you no longer have the same mobile phone you did years ago? Technology changes. Functionality changes. Hopefully your business has changed. Don’t leave a resource like your company’s website abandoned or not updated. It’s time to make a new investment in your business and update that old website to better serve you and your target market.

Copyright S. Holub 2015. Original appears on http://www.jvmediadesign.com/blog/design/we-spent-a-lot-of-money-on-this-website/

You Probably Already Know Your Small Business Needs a Website …

According to a digital marketing study done by Clutch, about 25% of the businesses surveyed don’t have a website and an even smaller percentage don’t plan on having one. Most small business owners that I speak with who don’t have a site up yet say something like, “I know we need a website.” When I ask them why they need a website, the answer is often, “Because we don’t have one!” Herein lies the problem – many small business owners don’t actually know why they need one.

You may already have an internet presence …

Maybe the business owner signed up for a Facebook page and never got much further than that, or because they filed a DBA or purchased a phone book ad, or a myriad of other reasons, their business contact information ended up on the web. Some satisfied (or dissatisfied) customers might have left a review on Facebook, Google+, Yelp, Angie’s List, or any of the other sites that list reviews. This leads me to the first reason why your business should have its own website: control of information. 

It seems basic, but if you have your own website, you have total control over the information on that site. As your business evolves and changes, so should your website. The information on it should be accurate, up to date, and helpful for your target audience. All other sites on the internet where your information may appear should be secondary. 

What do you want your customers to do?

Another top reason why your small business needs a website, is to answer this question. Always remember that your website is part of your overall brand and marketing. Your website needs to drive visitors to take an action. Most often, that action is going to be to somehow make contact or make a purchase from your business. Even secondary actions such as downloading a helpful ebook, is still marketing that is serving a purpose and helping to establish trust and get people on board to eventually make that initial contact with your business. 

Not being able to answer this fundamental question can greatly affect the success of your business website, even if you’ve done some heavy duty online marketing to drive targeted traffic to it. If people are confused when they arrive at your site, or they don’t find the information they need, they’ll be gone in 2 seconds. 

Don’t expect to just, “be successful”, by having a website.

I know some small business people who basically just want to cross off, “put up a website” on their to-do list and move on to the next task.  

A major goal with websites is to  have that site work FOR your business. I rarely hear this as a response to that, “why does your business need a website” question. It may be some unspoken thing. I’m sure business owners have it somewhere in their minds that a website has the potential help their business be more successful, but simply putting it up is not how it happens.

I’ve written other articles on how to map out some goals for your website (check out, “Strategy and Goals for Your Website Project”) but you don’t just build a great website and hope people will see it. There are a billion websites out on the internet, so if you’re not doing any other forms of marketing to make that website work for you and reach the intended market, it won’t do it by itself. 

Remember, a website itself is an investment in your business, so be sure to give yourself the best odds of seeing a return on that investment by properly marketing the site. For some help with that, check out some of our other articles under Online Marketing.

Copyright S. Holub 2015. Original appears on http://www.jvmediadesign.com/blog/business/your-small-business-needs-a-website/

What does it cost to build a custom website?

I’m a member of several professional networking sites. One of the sites allows people to post web and marketing projects so that professionals on the site can respond if they are interested in it. The other morning I got an email notice that a new project was posted, so out of curiosity, I went to check it out. This is what I found …

New Website for Users Who Will Create Accounts

“This project is a website where potentially thousands of users will create accounts that will be permanent in nature (they’ll keep years and years). Users will enter personal photos and information. Users will make decisions along the way, with some decision boxes required. You agree to build a site that provides standard parameters in everything from framework of site, look, feel, login, recording of personal info and other digital information and other addon items to be discussed. I will provide much more in detail.”

BUDGET: $100 – $499

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First, let me just point out that even with the minimal amount of details this person gives, I immediately know that this is a very complex and large project (not to mention, it seems like they want a knock off of Facebook or Instagram). When you start talking about thousands of user accounts, custom programming (ability for people to upload photos, custom form with required fields, etc.) and “addon items”, you are out of the realm of simple websites. And the real kicker, the designer/developer is expected to deliver everything … for a budget of $100 – $499 dollars. 

The Saddest Part

It’s concerning to me that there are people out there that are expecting complex, custom websites delivered for under $500. I can’t lie, I felt personally offended for the entire professional web development industry by this post. Do people go to a home builder and say, “I would like a 5 bedroom house, with high end finishes, and custom woodwork throughout and my budget is $100.00 – $499.00.” No, they do not. For one, that would be absurd. Also, the construction industry has not lowered itself to building complete houses for a tiny fraction of the actual price of such a thing. 

Freelancers and even some companies are feeling pressured to compete with lower and lower prices. They’re also competing with a variety of “do-it-yourself” solutions. There’s plenty of DIYers in home improvement and construction, yet it’s fascinating that if you approach a professional contractor after you’ve screwed up your project, they will still not lower their prices for you.

It seems when it comes to building websites, people don’t put the same value and worth on it as building a physical structure.

Web designers and programmers do not require state licensing or specified training to start doing business like home contractors do. The building of a website can be quite nebulous for a client. The finished product is not something they can physically touch, like a house.  There isn’t a crew of people bringing in materials and sweating all day long to create their internet “dream home”. 

The Reality of Building Custom Websites

The reality is that building professional and custom websites does require skill, training, and a ton of hours to complete. I have been involved with complex web projects that have taken more than 6 months to complete. A team did work very hard to build the website, many hours were spent doing it, and if that team didn’t know what they were doing, the website build would have fallen apart, much like many DIY home projects. Building complex and custom websites is far different from creating a simple informational site with a few pages. It’s like the difference of building a large custom home vs a garden shed. 

So what does it cost to build a custom website?

Much like a custom home, the quick answer is that it varies. There is not set price for a custom website simply because the price is determined by exactly what the client wants. In a house, you choose fixtures and finishes. In a website, you choose functionality. With the little details of the post from the networking site, I would ballpark it at $30,000+. I’m sure if I reached out to that person and threw out that number, they would think I was crazy. While I think they’re crazy (and uneducated) for thinking such a thing could be done for $500 bucks. 

Value and Respect

It’s important to understand that there is value in hiring a professional for your custom website project. The professional will be able able to work with you to understand your goals and your market. They can create a strategy for the build (much like the blueprint for a house), suggest the best coding solutions for the project, and see it through to completion. An experienced professional should be valued and respected, not asked to perform work at 1/100th of the actual cost of it.

Copyright S. Holub 2015. Original appears at http://www.jvmediadesign.com/blog/design/what-does-it-cost-to-build-a-custom-website/

Strategy and Goals For Your Website Project

I think we’re finally to the point where almost all business owners know that the internet is pretty important and that they should have a web presence. For some, this is where it stops – they know they need it and that’s it. 

Like most marketing (yes, your website is marketing for your business), it’s important to have a strategy in place to help you with defining your goals. Without this, your website will not be as effective as it could be.

Strategy Comes First

You’ve gotten to the, “you know you need a website” point and you’re ready to take steps to make it happen. Before you look into doing that yourself or hiring a professional to do it for you, it’s important to fully understand who the website is for.

It may seem like you’ll be building the website for your company but that’s not exactly the case. Your company will certainly benefit from the website. It may improve your company’s image. It may help you sell more products or services. However, the site itself is for your customers or clients and don’t ever forget that. 

So the first step, is to ask yourself the following questions:

1. Who is your target market? (note: you may actually have more than one)
2. Who is your ideal customer or client? (note: you may actually have more than one ideal customer too)

I differentiate between the overall target market(s) and the ideal customer(s) (sometimes called the buyer persona). Plenty of businesses assume that their product or service can be beneficial to everyone. While that’s a nice idea, and it might even be true in some way, it’s not feasible to market to everyone. You need strategy to target your audience.

Your target market may be more broad. For example: 20 to 40 year olds with disposable income who like outdoor activities. Your ideal customer is much more specific. For example: a 30 year old male who works in the tech industry, who lives in the Pacific Northwest, who enjoys hiking and camping, who is concerned about the environment and sustainability, who would not think $50 is too much to pay for your product if it solves a need for them, etc. Don’t be afraid of being too specific during this process. It may seem like by narrowing your customers down like this you might lose business, but it’s important to understand the strategy going on here. You absolutely do want to narrow in on that perfect customer because if you tailor your marketing (and website) to speak to them, what they like to do, what their concerns are, and so on, you’re more likely to not only gain their attention, but also their business.

While this process can get quite involved, this article isn’t meant as a tutorial but simply to make you aware of the importance of your target market and ideal customer. There’s plenty of resources on the web to help you through the process. Additionally, many marketing and design agencies can walk you through this process before starting on your website. 

The Number 1 Goal of Your Website…

Once you have both your target market and ideal customer thoroughly defined, you’ve laid the groundwork to also define your first website goal: to connect with your target market. 

This is an important first goal because everything about your website needs to be crafted with this information in mind. You should be able to answer the following basic questions to ensure your number 1 goal is met:

• Why should your target market/ideal customer care about your company?
• What are the top problems your target market/ideal customer faces and how does your company offer a solution to those problems?
• What language and imagery can be used to connect with your target market/ideal customer? (think: what do they like, what do they want to see/hear and how does that relate to your business/service)

Remember: Everything about your website must always keep the target market/ideal customer in mind. 

If you are having trouble answering those, it might be wise to invest in the services of a professional marketing person or design agency (agencies often have a marketing aspect, so they can help you with that and the actual website development). If you have the time to research, the internet is filled with information, and I never discourage anyone from learning. 

Also, try not to personalize this process too much. By that I mean, always be looking at your website and what goes on it from your customer’s perspective. When you start to get into your own personal preferences, likes, and dislikes, you can quickly spiral off into creating your website just for you, and not your customers.

The Rest of the Goals …

I’m sure you were expecting a nice, tidy list here. However, there isn’t a set number of goals. What is important, is to work through the same type of strategy and process as on the first goal to come up with the rest of your goals. 

For instance, I’m sure almost every business out there has, “make more sales/do more business” as a goal. The problem with a broad, generic goal like this is really that it’s too broad and generic. There’s no strategy behind it at all. How will you make more sales? Most importantly, how will your website help you to make more sales? 

I’ve worked with a lot of businesses that were hung up on this one question. They knew they wanted more business, but didn’t know how to make it happen. It’s often a difficult question to find an answer to, especially when you’re unsure how your website is going to do this for you. The real truth of the matter is that your website may be central in your success, but there are other services involved as well, and they will vary based on your business and how you define your other goals. 

Let’s continue to use our generic example goal of, “make more sales/do more business”. Two basic questions that may help you define that better could be:

• How can I drive targeted (targeted = traffic from people in your target market) traffic to the website?
• What content can drive my target market at every stage in the buying cycle (or purchase funnel)? 

Here is where those other services come into play big time. Simply having a website does not mean people are going to flock to it and you’ll increase your business. Even if that website was created strategically, with your customers in mind, if they can’t find it, it’s not a very effective marketing tool for you. Those other services may include:

• Search engine optimization
• Online advertising
• Pay per click advertising
• Content marketing (creating content specifically for your audience in every stage of the buying cycle)
• Social media campaigns
• Grassroots marketing such as contests and giveaways
• In person networking such as conventions and local networking groups
• Print advertising

While I agree 100% that having a well-designed, modern, website that presents your brand to your target market effectively is very important, saying that a website alone will solve every goal for you is misleading simply because you need additional marketing services to ensure people get to that strategically created website. 

The Wrap Up …

Again, this article isn’t meant as a tutorial, but rather a simple guide that will:

1. get you thinking the right way (strategy, specifics, definitions, etc.).
2. make you aware that everything hinges off of you taking the time to define and understand your potential customers first.
3. illustrate how important supporting marketing services are to your overall website success and attainment of other goals.

Hopefully, this will enable you to at least take that first step in ensuring that your website will be an effective marketing tool for you.  

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Sherry Holub

Creative Director at JVM Design

Choosing design as a profession was easy with a heavy background in creative pursuits and an art degree, but Sherry's also been a writer for many years and has had works published in print as well as online. Besides art and design, Sherry also likes comic books, owls, kitsch, muscle cars, sci-fi, archaeology, rabbits, photography, natural health, octopuses, qi gong, the ocean, cats, and many other fun things.

Copyright 2015 Sherry Holub.

Original article source: http://www.jvmediadesign.com/blog/design/strategy-and-goals-for-your-website-project/

How to Find a Web Designer

While hanging out on Quora recently I noticed quite a few people asking the question, “how to find a web designer?” I’ve seen the same question other places around the web and can understand how daunting the task of finding a good designer can be. Whether you’re an individual or a business, you’ve taken the first step in realizing how a professional designer can help you but now you have no idea how to find one. Simply typing into a search engine, “find a web designer” may bring up an overwhelming amount of results.

Start with who you know.

While you probably don’t already know a web designer (or else you wouldn’t be looking for one), there’s a chance you might know someone who has worked with one. So ask your friends, family or business connections. Business referrals happen in every industry and web design is definitely no exception. A large portion of our own business comes directly from clients we’ve worked with in the form of referrals.

Network.

Similar to referrals from people you know, you might try referrals from people you don’t know by joining a networking group or attending business mixers. These types of activities are tailor made to initiate referrals and business-to-business connections and I can almost guarantee someone there has either hired a web designer or is one themselves.

Go back to the web.

If you can’t connect with a web designer through referrals or networking, then your best bet is going back to the web. Here are a couple quick tips to help in that search.

Try a local (city, nearby cities, state) search to locate web designers or design agencies in your area.

Also keep in mind that a web designer does not have to be in your local area in order to build your website. We’re truly living in the digital age where telecommuting, online conferencing, and the internet make it possible to do business remotely. To widen your search without being overwhelmed try checking out websites that specialize in showcasing designers. Some popular sites include Sortfolio.com and AgencySpotter.com. Sites such as these list information about designers and agencies, some of their work, and their contact information.

The next step.

Once you’ve found one or more potential designers or agencies it’s time to do some research. Talk with them, get information about their history, experience, and skills. Look over their portfolio. If it seems like they have the knowledge and expertise to make your website a reality, contact them, explain your needs, and ask for a proposal.

You don’t have to feel overwhelmed by the task of finding a web designer, you simply have to know where to start and a good direction to go in. Your search might even end with this article. If you have a web project, look over our site, then contact us and tell us about your needs.

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Sherry Holub

Creative Director at JVM Design

Choosing design as a profession was easy with a heavy background in creative pursuits and an art degree, but Sherry's also been a writer for many years and has had works published in print as well as online. Besides art and design, Sherry also likes comic books, owls, kitsch, muscle cars, sci-fi, archaeology, rabbits, photography, natural health, octopuses, qi gong, the ocean, cats, and many other fun things.

Copyright 2015 Sherry Holub.

Original article source: http://www.jvmediadesign.com/blog/business/how-to-find-a-web-designer/