Jennifer

Finding the Right Niche to Ensure Ongoing Demand

Small Business Brisbane, marketing strategies No Responses »
Oct 292010

Recently I’ve been meeting people who describe themselves as “internet marketers” or someone who is launching an “online business/portal”. It seems practically everyone has a web project they’re working on for the long term goal of… making passive income! (Except for my 5 year old – her website really is for fun).

And why not, I say! Passive income is so 21st century.
Let’s look at what you can offer, why offer it, and what it may bring you.

Specialise Narrowly
You probably know your niche already – it’s what you do for people everyday. But hey, if you’re sick of what you do professionally you need to find another passion – and supply information that many people are in need of.

Hook into a Demand Area
Obviously there has to be a demand, with limited supply. You can even create a demand by being the pre-eminent authority in your field. Do your keyword research, trend research (Google Trends), and you will find ideas as well as help narrow your niche even further.

What you want is a demand that’s not temporary (like iPhone manuals), but something that’s evergreen, like kids party decorating.

Case Study – Productive Gardens
Our case study shows a clever, practical person hooking into a growing ‘evergreen’ trend.

David Borthwick, a keen gardener, started Productive Gardens to share that anyone can grow herbs and vegetables at home in minimal space. He’s grown his little empire, with both physical products and eBooks called Vegetable Garden Doctor, Raised Garden Beds, Natural Pest Control, Stacking Gardens, and more.

He has a blog, a follow-up email system, video tips, newsletters etc. By the look of his very cute custom website, he’s doing very well. See www.productivegardens.com.au/blogs/news.

When I talked to David at a food show, he clearly talked about what value you get from this garden within a short time. As well, he picked up email details from passersby by offering a tiered garden system as a prize.

So you can see how the alignment of your values, your passion, and a popular trend is the right niche to fulfill your passive income dreams.

Posted by Jennifer at 2:16 pm Tagged with: , ,

Best CMS Website for your business?

Website Design No Responses »
Oct 262010

Today we follow on from our discussion in August, Should Your Customise and Write Your Website? If you want to get the best CMS website on the market, we have done all the research and examined all options for you.

WordPress - a great tool which can be customised and uses easily updated templates, but it takes a fair bit of tweaking to create a store, which is ultimately not suited. Perfect for magazine or content heavy sites. Always good as an add-on to any regular business website to allow updating of articles.

Joomla – Open Source CMS which can give you lots of template options. It’s good for community sites with bulletin boards, articles, etc. Although the open source is freely available, the trick is finding the Joomla developer who is good at adapting the templates for your needs.

Expression Engine – ‘Open Template’ design – this is a great choice for many clients. Open template means that the design elements can go anywhere, so the designer/developer team can build anything YOU want. Other common CMS systems are fixed templates, and the developer faces certain restrictions. Great for any kind of store or to implement a look and feel that is unique. Quite an easy back end for the user. While other web designers do charge $3500 – $6000 for a decent CMS website, our reasonable prices start from $2500 all inclusive … MORE HERE

How Does the Design and Architecture work?
Once the design is mapped out (on the screen), a new website is sent to the developer for site architecture. This is building the actual framework of a site.

If the client has changed their minds about some elements of the site once it has been built, then many different problems occur. Just as if you decide to change the location of a window once your house is half-built (all the frames and loads have to be readjusted), your website also would have to be fully restructured if you want a different layout or different look.

Good Design of Online Stores
Don’t let anyone design your ecommerce store as a jumble sale – with the pictures and prices first, details requiring a click, and customer has no idea what each product is for. The best stores have an interface that’s easy to use and easy to view, some info about each item, and clear product categories.

Posted by Jennifer at 12:13 pm Tagged with: , , ,

Websites Going Mobile

Website Design No Responses »
Oct 132010

Gartner says “mobile usage will eclipse desktop browsing by 2013”.
It’s crazy how fast the trend to mobile smartphone is going, and both web developers and their clients need to look at creating user-friendly, mobile-friendly websites.

Different countries in the world have different preferences for devices. iCrossing shows mobile device market break-up in Australia:
Blackberry … 52%
Apple (iPhone/iTouch)… 35%
Nokia … 6%

The most seemingly popular devices are not always the most used devices. Apple’s so great at marketing but not yet got the big cheese. Nokia is a very popular mobile phone in Australia, but their smartphones only have a small share. Microsoft will soon release Windows7 for mobiles, trying to get its little bit of new mobile media market share.

How are people using smartphones? In US, 34% of smartphone users have used a browser and 31% have downloaded and used an app (Comscore mobilens). These numbers possibly lag the real growth trends this year.

Designing for Mobile web or Apps?

Because of all the different products in the device marketplace, it means creating a lot of apps – for iPhone, Symbian, Blackberry, etc.

When you consider a mobile site with a browser, the advantage is people can find you through search and just view it. Providing apps means the user has to download the right app first.

It’s also easier to find a technology developer to build a mobile website.

Read more in Digital Market Labs blog about creating iPhone apps.

Start with a Good Plan and Strategy

It makes sense to start with your organisational goals: i.e. drive membership, gather leads, encourage donations, etc, and then work out how to help customers who use mobile devices, to help them accomplish what they’re going to you for. You need to design a good customer experience.

Then you must engage the Best Practices of Building Mobile Web:
1. Content drives experience
2. Screen Real estate
3. Navigation
4. Leverage device capabilities (e.g. HTML5)
5. How much to mobilise?
6. Measure and optimise*
* Source: Ektron

Content drives Experience
The first thing your Analytics will tell you is what device consumers use, which browser, and what search phrases they used.
Be aware of the environment that people are using a device. Someone using an iPad will probably be relaxing and want an experience, but if they’re using a smartphone they might be transaction oriented.

Real estate
Screen real estate means designing in a single column template so that your user won’t have to scroll too much to get to the main info. Assets need to be a smaller size to download quicker.

Navigation
Traditional web navigation (left, right or top menus) doesn’t work well on a mobile device. Most commonly mobile navigation are at the bottom with a very simple menu at the top. You can use Ajax technology to get further into the site.

Device Capabilities
Support location information, support click to call, support video – all these will be important on the mobile web.

How Much to Mobilise?
If someone surfs to m.site.com on a mobile – they can access the site more directly, rather than www.site.com (which may not be mobile friendly).
So how do you transition across to a mobile-tailored website? The first step is ask your web developer/designer of their capabilities for designing for mobile, and define your needs accurately.

Measure and Optimise
You won’t be able to tell what your users are doing unless you look closely at your web analytics program. And if you’re creating a new product site, you need to look at the general trends for your marketplace, i.e. what are they viewing and from which devices.

Optimise your site for your mobile users and their regular habits (e.g. opening an email newsletter on a device, oops it doesn’t work for them).
Thanks to ektron’s webinar by Bill Rogers and Tom Wentworth.

Posted by Jennifer at 11:41 am Tagged with: , ,

Using Online Directories – Tradies

Small Business Brisbane No Responses »
Sep 272010

Although advertising on TrueLocal and Hot Frog is often free, ensure you are using these directories as best you can and checking that the services supplied under your company listing are in fact, your services.

As I’m in need of a gas fitter and cabinetmaker myself, naturally I turned to Google and TrueLocal. Amazingly, although most plumbers listed had “gas fitting” under their service, in fact when I enquired, many did not perform gas installations of any kind, especially not to an oven.

The Service Seeking online quoting service is invaluable for people who don’t know who to call, like myself. If you’re a trades or business service provider, why not get on there and see if there are jobs you could bid for. Bids start from 5 points (about $5-10) depending whether you buy in bulk.

I believe this beats the unknown quantity of paying for Premium Directory listings – offered at every online directory.

There is a list of all the Australian Online Directories on my other blog: www.businessgrowthtoolbox.com.au

Keep a text file with your service information in it, to speed things up and save repeating yourself. So build up your visibility and get directory posting!

Posted by Jennifer at 4:37 pm Tagged with: ,

Business Networking in Brisbane

Small Business Brisbane, marketing strategies No Responses »
Sep 062010

Many service businesses and consultants would realise the power of meeting business people at a business networking or luncheon event. Before I give you some more local places to meet professionals, here are three quick tips for making your networking useful:

1.  Don’t thrust a business card out when you are introduced. Save it to the end of a delightful conversation.

2.   Listen and ask questions about the other person’s business. When they tell you about their troubles or specialty, respond with genuine interest e.g. “I didnt know that”, “I can see that”, or “so that’s what a patent lawyer does”.

3.  Open the door to the future. When it comes to your turn to talk, try not to overwhelm them with your industry knowledge, instead speak about what results you have achieved for clients quite like themselves. (This lets the other person connect the dots and ask for your card or appointment).

Local Networking Events – Northside and Redcliffe

Meetup.com provides numerous local interest groups run by individuals, sometimes sponsored by businesses.  The idea is to introduce yourself, see if you and the group is aligned, and then go to a meetup – or suggest your own meetup in the local area.

Families in Business.  Families in Business organiser is presently out of town, but I am trying to organise a meeting at Woody Point monthly (Saturday 18th Sept), particularly for parents in business, who find it impossible to go to morning breakfast meetings. Marketing focus. Please show your interest now!

New! Business 2 Business Brisbane meetup will meet at Chermside South.

For those more centrally located:

http://www.meetup.com/Home-Business-Ideas-Brisbane/ Entrepreneurs unite

http://www.meetup.com/WordPress-Brisbane/ Introduction to WordPress and all it can do.

Other Independent Networking Events

Ray White host a North Lakes networking monthly meeting with no cost or obligation. Next one has a speaker (Renee of Zestee Concepts) but also allows for networking discussion. It’s on Tuesday 7th September 2010, 10 am at Nessies, Evergreen Centre, North Lakes. For more information, call Lem 0404 859 426.

Business Connector hold regular monthly meetings at North Lakes, and Angie is holding a special event for small businesses – a free 3-hour marketing expo at Kallangur. To discuss websites, what is SEO, marketing solutions, etc.

When: Monday 13th September
Time: 6pm – 9pm
Where: Norths Leagues Club, Kallangur

Book with angie@garnish.com.au.

Posted by Jennifer at 10:40 am Tagged with: , ,

Should You Really Customise and Write a Website Yourself?

SEO tips, Small Business Brisbane, Website Design 1 Response »
Aug 262010

Small business owners are a busy lot; today we consider… do you have time and skills to DIY your content and run a full CMS?

We wrote a little about this when we considered the question, DIY Template or Employ a Web Designer?

Recently I found another web company offering an ‘all-in-one’ solution – where business owners pick a template and do their own content and optimisation. This really assumes that business owners have an eye for design and colour, copywriting skills, and knowledge of keywords and where to put them.

That’s quite of a lot of assumptions. Most people who are very good at what they do, whether plumbing a roof or consulting to business, don’t have the time to research and get good at these varied skill sets. Hell, they don’t even have the time to consult with us on what they want in their website at times, much less always be doing it themselves.

Content Updates to Websites

In our new publication ‘Small Business Websites… Finally Explained’ we express the need for regular website updates if you want your website to be fresh and ranked well in Google. (And we practice what we preach).

If you or your partner can set aside 3 to 5 hours per month and you are a concise writer, please go ahead and pay for a full CMS (content management). If you’re normally in a car or up on a roof for work, then look into getting Hosting Maintenance included in a standard small business website. This means you can send in your website updates every couple of months at no extra cost.

Remember, you can optionally add a WordPress blog to a small business website and easily enough put in articles. Blog writing can be a simple affair and help your site be found for very specific subjects and locations. These can be articles which encourage the reader to purchase from you. When (notice I don’t say if) you realise that you can’t possibly keep up with writing these posts then I’d be happy to do it for you on a regular weekly basis, from $40 per post, or less for editing. Cheers.

Posted by Jennifer at 2:36 pm Tagged with: , , , , ,
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