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Your EnterQuest Bulletin - Issue 246
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| Thought for the week: "The bitterness of poor quality remains long after low pricing is forgotten." Leon M. Cautillo |
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In this week's issue:
How to drive traffic to your website
Most small businesses design their website with absolutely no plan for bringing customers to their site. Just because you have a website, don't assume that people will visit it, no matter how well designed it is.
Your website marketing plan should include, but shouldn't be limited to, the following marketing strategies:
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Linking strategy. As part of your marketing plan you should begin to generate a list of complementary sites you would like to approach to request a link. Not only does linking bring you direct traffic from other sites, it is a key factor in your search position in several important search engines, such as Google and Yahoo!.
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E-zine advertising and e-marketing. If you want to advertise on an e-zine, you'll need to buy advertising space from the e-zine owner. If you want to advertise via e-mail, you'll need to target customers who have opted in to receive communications from you about your business.
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Viral marketing. Every site should have a viral marketing component, something that compels people to tell others about your site. Free e-books, writing articles for other websites with links to your own site, publishing an e-zine and encouraging people to pass it on and installing a tell-a-friend programme are all good examples of viral marketing tactics.
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Offline marketing. Marketing your website offline should go without saying. Think newsletters, flyers, voice mails, receipts, Yellow Pages and order forms, to name a few.
Build your business by asking questions
Questioning your business, its plan and its motive is key to keeping it fresh and innovative. People tend not to question their business because they've got into a routine and are scared of change, or they're just too busy to stop doing what they're doing in order to pause and think about whether there's a better way.
A brainstorming meeting gives you and any other people involved in the business some time for questions and suggestions. But what kinds of questions should you be asking of the business?
Many brainstorming sessions peter out into ones that end up fixing problems or queries. There's too much focus on what goes wrong, so you constantly end up asking questions like:
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Why are sales down?
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What is holding up production?
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What can be done about customer complaints?
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What is wrong with the current process?
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What can I do about difficult staff?
But by focusing your attention on the negatives, you'll miss the opportunities presented by the positives. Spend some time asking questions like:
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What are our key strengths?
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What do customers like about us?
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What is going well?
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What new customers have we won?
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In what ways have we delighted customers?
By focusing on the strengths and capabilities of your business, you'll be able to see the fresh opportunities and chances to create new products, services, initiatives and incentives.
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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.
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 'recondite'?
a) intellectual
b) difficult to understand
c) reclaimed; repurposed
d) in good condition
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) Spending on online advertising in 2008 is to surpass the amount spent on TV advertising, according to new predictions from media planning and buying agency Group M. By what percentage is online spending growth forecast to grow by this year?
a) 12%
b) 19%
c) 21%
d) 31%
2) Research by e-commerce solutions firm Amenworld has revealed that over a third of small firms are most likely to register which type of domain name in January than any other time of the year?
a) .co.uk
b) .com
c) .org
d) .biz
3) The British Retail Consortium (BRC) is urging consumers not to react to alarmist claims that which type of product is set to experience a rise in prices in British stores?
a) clothing
b) gardening products
c) electrical items
d) food
Answers at the end of the Bulletin.
Buying groups directory
The Buying Groups Website contains a guide to UK-based buying groups - that is, groups or consortia of businesses operating in a particular sector or industry. You must be a business in order to join any particular buying group, and suppliers have the opportunity to use the website to sell to buying groups.
Put promising keywords to good use
The Hittail.com website enables users to utilise under-used yet promising keywords effectively. It suggests in real time ideas for keywords to help you boost your natural ranking on search engines, without resorting to pay-per-click campaigns. It offers a basic service free of charge provided your website receives less than 100,000 visits a month.
Affiliate marketing survival strategies
This article helps readers to understand the pros and cons of affiliate marketing. It covers everything from phone payments and tracking cookies to affiliate software. There are also several useful resources at the end of the article.
Employment status tool
This tool from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is useful for small business owners who are engaging the services of a worker on a freelance basis and want to ensure they're staying on the right side of the taxman - if HMRC do not agree that the worker is genuinely self-employed, the employer may find themselves liable for employers' National Insurance Contributions (NICs). It's also useful for workers who believe they are self-employed and want to clarify their position as being so.
Just one word answer
The answer is b).
Recondite means difficult to understand.
The recondite terms used by the software developer left the business owner puzzled. |
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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. |
