Tips

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Sara's Interview - Podcast with Small Business Consultant

On January 5th I had the wonderful opportunity to be interviewed by small business consultant, Sue Whitaker, owner of the The Business Lovemaker and talk show host. Sue and I worked together on her branding and new Business Lovemaker website. During the project, she asked if I would be a guest on her radio show knowing her nationwide listener base would receive some business insight since they are generally entrepreneurs.

Sue interviewed me for 1 hour asking me about my background, my inspiration, how I balance my right and left brain with the type of work I do, tips for business owners and web development, and more. Take a moment to listen to my podcast about business* and keep your ears peeled for a little gift for you at the end. If you have some feedback, please comment below (this is my first interview since being on NPR and CNN for my women's surf shop in 1997, so I was a little nervous).

*If you are having problems playing the audio file, you can right click on the link to download and play on your computer.

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Replacing Mystery Man with your Mug Shot

So you have a blog and you are all giddy about writing your first blog post. Or perhaps you've mustered up some courage to comment on a colleague's post. You finish up, hit send and WHAT the? What is that little mystery man showing by your name? Introducing the avatar.

An avatar is a little icon that helps identify your posts and comments on forums and blogs. Instead of creating a new avatar per each place you post, you can now create a globally recognized avatar, called a gravatar. To do this, you go to Gravatar.com and create a free account. From this account, you can change your image or your byline. It is all managed here, linking your account to your email address. As you change your gravatar or byline on your Gravatar.com account, it will change everywhere you have posted. It's that easy.

So take 5 minutes and replace that mystery man with your stunning smile or a fun gravatar so readers get to know you.

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10 Ways to Help Your Business This Year - Resolutions for your Business

Happy New Year!

Many people have mentioned that they are planning to work on their business after the New Year. So, the time has come and many are wondering what to do. Below is your business' New Year's resolution in 10 ways to help grow your business this new year:

1. Get organized: Have receipts flying around and file folders everywhere on your desktop? Create a system to help streamline your paperwork and information. It will streamline your day down the road.
2. Get clear: Get very clear on your messaging, your price structure, and your services. Carve out 2 hours per week to get these three done. This will not only streamline your day, but will also help you clearly get your word out to customers.
3. Establish your goals for the year: What is it you really want? How many more clients do you want or products do you want to sell each month? Sit down and create realistic goals for the year, then break them down per month. Then reflect on what is realistic in terms of your current workforce, hours per week, etc. If your goals exceed your fulfillment, then your goals need to also include growing your fulfillment side of your business.
4. Create a plan based on those goals: How are you going to reach those goals? Create a plan for marketing, advertising, promotions, R&D, etc. Create an overall plan for the year, then break them down per month, and even by week. Assign tasks to employees, coworkers, or even to yourself on your calendar. As much as it seems like a good idea, do not just throw a contest, do not just have a sale, do not just have a newsletter, do not just make a video, etc. You NEED a plan so your efforts invoke a call to action that you WANT to have happen.
5. Create a ToDo Calendar: Finally have some time to work on your business but can't prioritize, let alone remember what you were supposed to work on? Create a to-do list that links to your calendar and assign these new tasks you made from your plan above. Create a system so you constantly return to this list throughout the day so you get in the habit of seeing what is next on the list AND get the successful feeling of crossing your tasks off.
6. Reiterate your message: Let the world know about your message and services by reiterating them on all marketing materials, including your website.
7. Make time for YOU: You are not a machine and you do your best work once you are rested. So schedule some time for you during your busy week. It sounds counterintuitive, but scheduling an hour for a walk, yoga, massage, run, or just some reading time that is strictly for you, will help reenergize you and get you working more efficiently.
8. Get realistic: Does your task list have 40+ things on it each day? Maybe it is time to hire someone? Can a professional help you get something done right in 2 hours that would take you 10 hours to do just okay? Wouldn't it be worth having that professional help you with that task each month so you can spend those 10 hours making money? Or perhaps hiring a mom or high school student who needs some filler work a few hours per month to organize your office or do some errands for you? No need to hire someone to do your main tasks of your business. Just someone to help with the small tasks. Make your life easier and in doing so, you may be helping someone else out who needs some extra work.
9. Learn some more: Stay on top of your industry by subscribing to blogs or Linked In groups that pertain to your business. No need to enroll in hours or hours of classes (unless mandatory for your licensing). Just subscribe to the endless feeds of information on the internet. You will not only stay up to date on new technology and tips, but will also learn about ways to become more competitive in your market.
10. Get real help: Totally confused with what you are doing? There are thousands of professionals who can help you get streamlined in your business and in your day to day living. Spending a few hundred dollars here or there to get you on track may most likely help you earn thousands down the road. it IS worth the investment. If you don't know what to blog about, what or when to be posting to your social networks, how to properly create a newsletter that drives traffic, how to properly hold a contest or sale, how to make a video that converts, or if it all feels overwhelming, contact me or another professional and we can create a plan to make this work for you.

Above are just a few ways to help you get your business on the right rack for the year. Taking the time to help your business grow will prove both profitable and rewarding.

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Top quotes from Successful Entrepreneurs

"Whether you think that you can, or that you can’t, you are usually right." ~ Henry Ford

Why is it that some entrepreneurs succeed and others don't? What makes these successful few tick? Income Diary, (a great website dedicated to helping bloggers become successful), compiled a great list of the 15 best quotes from 15 of the best entrepreneurs. It's a great way to see that HOW we think can truly affect our outcome, even in business. Since I am a huge fan of the Law of Attraction and changing thought patterns to procure success, my favorite is Henry Ford's (above).

 

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Website tips | Be seen and heard year round

So your town has shoulder seasons, also known as the "off season." These off seasons are defined as times when there are fewer visitors and there is less spending happening in store fronts. In tourist towns of North America, these off seasons tend to happen in late Spring and early Autumn. Tourists stay home and commerce is more dependent upon resident spending. But, just because your town has an off season, doesn't mean YOU have to.

Good websites and great marketing strategies allow for your little shop-front in Small Town USA to be seen on a global scale year round. This means that even if spending has slowed down in your area, it allows you to be seen by online shoppers worldwide.

"Good," you think to yourself. "I have a website so I must be taken care of." Unfortunately, that is not true. Just because you can have a website, doesn't mean it is being seen. It may be there and be able to be seen with direct searches (meaning when you type in your URL, you see your website). But most people on the planet, let alone internet shoppers don't know your URL and depend on Google searches and ads. So unless you have great search engine optimization and a marketing plan to go along with it, your website may just be floating in the ethers of the web.

Again, to be seen on a global scale means your website MUST be created correctly and you MUST have a marketing plan that you stick with (PS- a $400 website package will never offer this, fyi). If you want your business to attract new clients, then you need to 1.) get your site created right and 2.) have a marketing plan that fits your budget of time and money each week/month.

Finding a great website designer may take you time, but it is worth it. Here are some tips to help you find a website designer that can help your business get seen and heard. Working with a designer that has a marketing background and knows how to help you with internet marketing would be easiest, but if you can't find one, then search for a marketing firm to help you create one.

The internet and incredible shipping options has opened up the global economy not only for large businesses, but for small businesses, too. There are people buying and selling products around the world each day, every day. Just because your town has a shoulder season doesn't mean your business has to have one too.

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How to choose a web designer

With thousands of website designers out there, choosing a web designer can be a daunting task. So how do you choose a web designer? Here is a list of things to consider when choosing someone to design (and maintain) your website:

Portfolio:

Does their web portfolio provide a list of websites that have the same overall look and feel (style) of the website you want to have? Does their website portfolio show websites that are built on the platform or have the general elements of the website you want? If these portfolios show websites that offer similar layouts, styles, and elements to the site you want built, then that web designer can probably design it for you. If not, this may be a "portfolio builder" for the web designer. This can mean that this designer man not have a clue of what to look for in terms of functionality, testing, and how to make future updates to the site.

Client Testimonials:

How easy is it to work with this web designer? What type of service and website can you expect to get? Look at their client testimonials. Were clients willing to provide testimonials to the developer? Were they willing to provide a testimonial on platforms that links their name, such as Google Reviews and LinkedIn? If not, why not? What is this web designer hiding?

Price Structure:

Freelance designers often question whether to charge a flat rate or hourly rate? Flat rates can be tricky. If a website designer offers that, be sure to look into what you are really signing up for. If you sign up to have a website built for a flat rate, what does it include? If you go over the allocated items of that package, how much are you being charged for?

People think that a flat rate web design will save them money- that they will pay one amount and that's that. However, if you go over the amount of changes, or want another plugin, or are just modifying an old site versus starting new from the ground up, flat rate providers often have high additional fees.

Hourly rates allow customers the freedom to choose what they want for their site, make as many changes as is needed within their budget, and have add-on elements that are not usually offered in package deals. If you are choosing someone with a flat rate versus hourly rate, review the details of what really is and what isn't included. Additionally, if you are choosing someone with an hourly rate, ask them what they charge for and what they don't (i.e. Do they charge for changes and email/communication time? Do they charge for the hour they talked your ear off about politics and coding developments, etc.).

Personality:

Does your personality match or clash with your web designer's personality? You will be working with this designer for awhile. If you cannot meet eye to eye in the beginning in the content strategy planning stages, you will not find a happy medium later on when deadlines and budgets are approaching. Find someone that will make this process fun and hopefully, rewarding. This is YOUR business. Find someone who will help represent you AND be a joy to work with.

Advocacy:

Who is the web designer's priority: themselves or you? Are they so engulfed with making this website so beautiful that they forgot to think about your budget? Are they so excited to work on a new module or plugin that they forgot to see if it matches your overall marketing goals and business well-being? Finding a designer that is an advocate for your business is a must. Therefore, when decisions come up about adding social media elements or mapping software or custom plugins and modules, your designer knows whether or not to spend any time researching it based on if it matches your marketing goals for your business and your budget/timeline.

Budget:

Does this designer match your budget? Furthermore, what is your budget? A business website is one of the most essential tools for successful marketing today. But just having a website is not the issue: you need a functioning, tested, branded, and search engine optimized website with good content, great imagery, and web marketing basics implemented. If not, your site will be lost in cyberspace.

Do some research and/or call a handful of designers (in your country) with your scope of work for your site. You can gain an understanding of what is the standard for what you are asking for. Then see if these ballpark figures are within realm of one another. If you get an outlying, low-ball estimate, ask to see a breakdown of what they are really offering. If you get an incredibly low-ball estimate compared to 3 other similarly priced quotes, something is not lining up. Ask them:

1. Are they using programmers and designers in your country to do the work or are they outsourcing to another country with poor working conditions? (If so, are these working conditions something that is reflective of the ethical standards of your business and do you want to be associated with supporting such practices?) If so, what accountability is there for when something goes wrong? And, if these outsourced programmers are involved with an eCommerce website, do you feel comfortable not knowing what web programmer where has all of your bank account information?
2. Are they using stock imagery, video, or music that they have purchased the licensing to (and is that included in the estimate)? Or will you get a call one day for copyright infringement and a copyright lawsuit because they have stole those elements and cut corners to save a buck?
3. Are they quoting you an html site that requires you to contact them every time you need a change made? Or are they quoting you a content management platform where you will be empowered to make your own content changes?
4. Do they even know what they are doing? You can hear it in their voice. If they can't explain how the process works, what to expect, and they give you a million "yes's" without asking you enough questions, they most likely are looking for a fast buck. Just because they can build a website, doesn't mean they should.

As always, you get what you pay for. If you want your website to perform, you need a good designer (and a great marketing plan, but more about that in another post). Be willing to adjust your budget to what is necessary to get the results you are expecting.

Value:

Golden rule: Treat others as you want to be treated. Same goes for business. If you want to be paid what you are worth, then pay others what they are worth. Yes, sales are great and please take advantage of them. But if you are asking a web designer to do something for free or cheap because they are a friend or because you feel you are entitled to free service, what are you getting in return? Are you getting their best work?

The value of a good website is incredible: websites are an amazing tool that if created correctly and are aligned with a marketing plan and team to implement the plan, they can attract hundreds- and possibly millions- of new clients during it's lifetime. If you find a designer that you like and adheres to the standards of above, be willing to pay their price. They will be an incredible advocate for you and your business, and most likely will perform way beyond the value of their fees.

Finding a good website designer can be challenging. But if you take the time to go through list above, you will most likely find someone who can create a perfect site for you and your business (and can be fun working with in the meantime).

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Best Wordpress Web Host

Choosing a host for your new website can be a daunting task since there are hundreds, if not thousands. I have worked with many and though I love to support local, small businesses, this is one area where the national brand is the better way to go. When you have a national company competing with others, you end up getting easy customer service 24/6, a great control panel, easy to understand tutorials, and usually money back guarantees. One of my favorite companies to work with is GoDaddy.com. They are great for general html sites and WordPress sites, as well as other options.

In building new sites and redesigning sites with hosts that clients currently work with, I have come across numerous different host and domain providers. The reason I prefer GoDaddy.com over many of the other large (and small hosts) is the following:

• Their control panels are very easy to navigate and work with, for both developer and client.
• They have a wide variety of tutorials for all of their products that are easy to access and understand
• I have had the least amount of problems with their hosting and transfers with them than any other host I have worked with.
• They have expedited transfers for me, allowing client websites to have minimal down times.
• Though I have seen some slower service for their Economy WordPress hosting, their Deluxe and Ultimate packages have produced faster load times for client websites.
• Customer service. I have had some problems with them with a couple clients (but less than with other hosts) and when that happened, they refunded the full amount.

All hosts boast that they do not have problems, even though all hosts have a problem here and there. That said, GoDaddy has provided more consistent service than any other host that I have used.

How to Purchase the Top wordpress website hosting

1. Go to GoDaddy.com and go to the menu HOSTING If you are getting a WordPress site, go to WORDPRESS hosting
2. If you will only have a few images and don't care about loading speeds, choose the Economy Plan. If you are going to have more than a handful of images and want faster loading times, choose Deluxe Plan (12 months is recommended for both). If you are going to have an eCommerce site with onsite payment processing, then choose the Ultimate Plan and you will get a SSL certificate for free for one year.
3. Don't add anything else on the next page and proceed to checkout.*
4. *If you do not have a domain name, go to DOMAINS and select a domain name. The .com and .net are preferred.

GoDaddy is my favorite website host because they take great care of you, have exceptional services and integrative options, as well as numerous tutorials that stay up to date. If you are planning on getting a website, I recommend GoDaddy for your hosting. However, be sure to talk to your web designer first to make sure that you are purchasing the correct plan for your site.

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Free small business marketing ideas

Marketing your small business can be overwhelming, especially when you are busy running your business. With the hundreds of available options, it can be even tougher figuring out where to start. Here are a few FREE options of ways to help get your name out there (and it only takes a few hours):

• FREE BUSINESS LISTINGS: Google, Bing and Yahoo: Here's a link to one of my blog posts: http://www.sarazimmerman.net/2011/05/16/get-seen-on-google-and-yahoo/. In the 6th paragraph or so are links to set up FREE listings for your business at Google, Yahoo and Bing. Add your info and images if you have time. This will take about a half an hour to do for each.
• FACEBOOK: Make a personal Facebook account and make some “friends.” Then, login to your Facebook account and go to the help page (at the bottom) and type in Create a Facebook Fan Page. Then follow the instructions and set one up. Once you have one, add info, add images, etc. This will take about an hour to do. Then add a post once a day for 7 days, then at least once a week after that. Once you have something up there, send an invite to your personal “friends” to become a fan of your business fan page.
• LINKEDIN: Start a Linkedin.com profile. Please add as much information as you can, as well as links. This will take about an hour too.
• YELP: If you have a storefront, start a business account at Yelp.com. Ask former clients to rate and review you.
• EMAIL NEWSLETTER: Do you have an email mailing list? If so, send it through an email newsletter provider where you can track it and make it have your branding. MailChimp.com is great and free up to 2,000 contacts. Create an account, then login again and fill out your profile. If you have time to watch or go through a tutorial, please do. You will need to set up a list for first, last name and email. You can start a general list. Then you can start a template, if you like.

There are hundreds of things to do. There are just a few things to help you get started, but keep in mind, you need to keep up with it to make it effective. If you have any problems or want some help to bring your branding through your marketing efforts so it looks consistent, please contact me. Happy marketing!

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Laws of good branding

Branding and corporate identity are what gets your business seen and remembered. Investing into good branding makes all the difference in the world.

Imagine you are an upscale restaurant serving entrees that start in the $35 range. Imagine you decided to skimp on paying for good branding and lettered your own sign, your business cards are do-it-yourself from VistaPrint, and your menus are black and white photo copies with a little clip art of some shrimp scampi at the top. What does this say about your restaurant? To me, if a business deliberately shows that they are skimping on their branding, it makes me feel like they may be the type to skimp on other important items like their licensing, quality of products, etc. Therefore, good branding is imperative on so many levels.

So what is good branding? Logo Orange breaks down branding essentials into 22 laws in their post called the Big Page. Here they review the items most necessary to getting branding that works for you, including Expansion, Quality, and Publicity. Click to read more about the steps involved in good branding and work with your designer and marketing consultant to get you a brand that speaks to your customers (and entices them to make a purchase!).

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Websites without a marketing plan are lost in space

Ok- so you spent a lot of money and time developing the PERFECT website that visually epitomizes everything you and your business is about. You had some help with the messaging and implemented search engine optimized techniques. You were trained how to use your WordPress or Joomla site, you added one blog post and ta-da: now the site is done. So now what? This is where many people get lazy and just stop. They think that because the SEO I implemented on their site got them on page one of Google rankings that they no longer have to worry about doing anything to their site, or marketing it, for that matter: "It will just bring new clients to me on its own, right?" MAYBE, BUT NOT GUARANTEED.

One of my favorite quotes I saw from a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) company rings so true:

Launching a website without an ongoing marketing plan is like spending the money and time on a tv commercial and never buying air time to show it.

So what can you do? The beauty of content management sites (CMS) like WordPress and Joomla are not only are they easy to navigate and update (once trained) but there are thousands of tips on how to make changes and how to get a better client base by installing pre-programmed widgets (like newsletter sign up forms) all over the internet. I personally give my clients techniques on how to write search engine optimized posts and content, as well as how to drive content back to your site through the use of eNewsletters and social media. But despite how easy and how CHEAP it is to do your own marketing, the excuses still take hold: "I don't have time."

My retort: "So you have time to complain about the economy, have time to worry about money, but don't have time to put 1/2 an hour a week into free marketing ideas?" Crazy. I am all about taking the bulls by the horns and that is what it takes. Now it doesn't mean you have to dedicate your life to marketing all the time, but 1/2 an hour to 2 hours a week can really do wonders.

If you don't know where to start, just start with some goals. Make a list of how many new clients you want per month and how much time and money you have to spend to acquire those clients. The work backwards. If you want 5 new clients a month, then you need to get about 20 hot leads, which means you need to get the word out to about 75+ people (these are totally rough numbers just to give you an idea). Anyways, if you get lost or confused, you can always hire a marketing consultant. But if not, you can start with that and then make a plan of action.

If you are worried about money but have time on your hands, the first thing you can do is start researching eNewsletter options, such as Constant Contact, MailChimp, Vertical Response, as well as thousands of others. It is a great way to get people who are already interested in you to take action.

The next thing you can do is start setting up your social networks as well as your free business listings in Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Relevant links back to you always help the validity of your site as well as help people who are interested be able to connect with you.

Tags: Marketing, SEO, Truckee, Web Design, web designer, web marketing, web marketing tips, website seo, websites