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Your EnterQuest Bulletin - Issue 242

Thought for the week: "Theoretical principals must sometimes give way for the sake of practical advantages." William Pitt the younger

• Domain name mistakes and how to fix them
• Coping with PR disasters
• Live online pensions advice
• Get to grips with plain English
• Use blognation to keep up with web trends
• Global Technology Forum

Domain name mistakes and how to fix them

Domain name mistakes are common. The trick is to not be fooled into picking a dud that no one will remember or bother to find. There are still a lot of domain names available. With some creativity and research you can land yourself a great one.

Remember the number one rule when getting a domain name. If someone wants to find your business on the web, the first thing they'll do is type your business name into their browser without shortening it or punctuating it. The closer you get to a domain name without abbreviating or adding hyphens etc, the more likely you are to be found by a customer surfing the net. Here are some of the most common mistakes.

• Using an extension other than a '.com' or '.co.uk'. There are several domain extensions such as .org, .gov, .net, .info, .biz. The .com was the first extension to become popular. In the UK people will search for '.co.uk' so try to have a domain name with a .com or.co.uk extension rather than a .biz or .info.

• Using hyphens in your domain name. Hyphens are used to separate words in some domain names but they can also confuse people because most Internet surfers don't expect to see them.

• Using unnatural abbreviations. People often want to abbreviate their business name to use as their website address. When you abbreviate your business name to use as your domain name you risk confusing customers, as most people don't know how you will abbreviate it. Just spell out your business name - or keep it just short enough so that it still makes sense.

• Not using a keyword in your domain name. This is probably more of an issue for businesses that ship nationwide or globally than it is for very small or micro businesses that deal locally. If you want to ship your products UK-wide or internationally, you'll want your business to be found by search engines. Put a keyword in your domain name and the search engines will pick it up and give the site a higher ranking.

• Not making the domain name easy to remember. Let's suppose your business name is taken. What will be your next move? Ours would be to find a catchy phrase that people will remember easily. Then people can type in the phase and try and find you that way.

Here's a recap of what to look for in a domain name:

• Is it easy to remember?

• Does it describe the purpose of the site?

• Is it available without hyphens?

• Is it available with a .com or .co.uk extension?

• Is it short?

• Does it match the keywords of your site?

• Does it avoid combinations of letters that are difficult to remember?

Check the domain name you choose against a domain name checker. Go to www.bignames.co.uk/check.html to see an example.

Here's one more tip. Don't forget expired domain names. Thousands of domain names expire every day. Many are great names that for one reason or another have been abandoned. The good thing about expired domain names is that at least one person determined they had value, so they're not just dried up boring leftovers.

For hundreds more practical tips and techniques to help you find new customers and increase sales on a shoestring budget, check out The UK Small Business Marketing Bible.

Coping with PR disasters

Small businesses invest a lot of time and effort into building up good reputations with their customers and clients. However, your reputation could all be undone if your business is hit by a PR disaster.

A PR crisis can strike at any time. How will you cope with it? A crisis will not respect your well-planned diary or schedule; it will visit you when it feels like it. A crisis could be anything from a food poisoning outbreak to an allegation about your business practices.

Here are some tips to help you prepare for potential PR mishaps.

Do:

• Keep up to date with what's being said about your firm on the Internet.

• Use your website to communicate in a crisis.

• Ensure that all decision makers have ownership of the agreed procedure in advance.

• Address people's fears, concerns and perceptions - they are what your crisis is really about.

• Be seen by your customers to be doing something - quickly - about the crisis.

• Arrange media training for yourself and any other spokespeople in the business.

Don't:

• Delay.

• Say 'no comment'. It is seen by most as a tacit admission of guilt.

• Hope the crisis will go away if you lie low.

• Try to handle the crisis on the hoof - take a cool, strategic overview from the outset.

• Hand it all over to a PR firm and walk away - make sure you keep control of the situation personally.

• Hold a press conference unless you absolutely have to.

To receive regular tips, articles and how-to guides like these to help you run your business more effectively you can subscribe to BETTER business magazine. To receive a free copy of BETTER business magazine simply send us your name and address to enterquest@cobwebinfo.com, putting 'EQ magazine offer' in the subject box.

Each week we provide you with summaries of some popular or emerging business ideas in the UK and elsewhere around the world.

• Farrier. Farriers trim and shoe horses' hooves. Some may have their own premises but many travel to customers' premises to tend the horses. Good, reliable farriers can be hard to find, and some have to turn away business because they can't keep up with demand.

• Home cooking with minimum fuss. The Singapore-based firm Mother offers meal solutions for time-pressed individuals who want home-cooked food. Users simply browse the Mother website for a dish they'd like to cook, then Mother does the shopping and even prepares some of the food, before delivering it to the customer to heat through and cook.

Regularly improving your vocabulary is not just about learning a new word and its meaning. It will improve your general knowledge and make you feel and act smarter in all sorts of personal and business situations.

Do you know the meaning of the word 'perspicacity'?

a) understanding or insight
b) a term describing corporate developments of the future
c) another term for stupidity
d) perspiring under pressure

Answer at the end of the Bulletin.

The following topical business issues have been recently reported in the media. Did your radar pick them up?

1) Businesses are expected to lose £790 million this festive season. Why?

a) their website isn't up to the Christmas rush
b) lost productivity because of workers' festive hangovers
c) staff doing their Christmas shopping online
d) cheques lost in the Christmas post

2) What do consumers find most annoying about business websites, according to new research?

a) it's hard to find contact details
b) the checkout systems crashing
c) they can't find post and packaging costs
d) some prices don't include VAT

3) Shop price inflation has reached its highest level this year. What type of products are responsible for the increase?

a) DIY goods
b) electrical appliances
c) clothing
d) food

Answers at the end of the Bulletin.

Live online pensions advice

Pensions advice is available live and online from The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS). You can browse this year's archive to see all kinds of questions and responses about pensions.The website also contains information on pensions for the self-employed.

Get to grips with plain English

The Plain English Campaign works with organisations to help them ensure their public information is as clear as possible. It offers a range of courses, including one on business writing, and visitors can access free plain English guides.

Use blognation to keep up with web trends

blognation is a blog site that lists the latest web and tech trends, happenings and news from thirteen different nations, including the UK, the US and Japan. You can search blogs via category, time, country or popularity to find out about developing trends that could give your business an edge.

Global Technology Forum

This is a useful website for businesses with an interest in all things IT. It has a research portal and produces guides to doing e-business in a variety of countries and links to other sources of useful information. These include business forecasts, examples of best practice and links to useful technology-based websites around the world.

This book aims to persuade businesses that the current speed of contemporary life is a good thing - and why they should grasp the opportunities it offers. Written by a former competitive skier, the book will be a useful addition to the libraries of entrepreneurs seeking to understand new and emerging social tends. Check out:

The Age of Speed: Learning to Thrive in a More-Faster-Now World, by Vince Poscente

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Good luck

The EnterQuest Team

This information is meant as a starting point only. Whilst all reasonable efforts have been made, the publisher makes no warranties that the information is accurate and up-to-date and will not be responsible for any errors or omissions in the information nor any consequences of any errors or omissions. Professional advice should be sought where appropriate.