Undeveloped Potential: Listen To Who’s On Your Team |  |
- Undeveloped Potential: Listen To Who’s On Your Team
- 5 Reasons Why You Need a Content Managed Website
- Every Small Business Should Be A Google Power Searcher
- PayPal Celebrates and Fancy Leads A Money-Making Revolution
| Undeveloped Potential: Listen To Who’s On Your Team Posted: 10 Jul 2012 11:00 AM PDT Whether it's 10% of your brain or 10% of your potential or no known percentage at all, most of us live without tapping into everything that we have. And for the independent minded small business owner that usually means there's a team that could help us pursue a new project or develop a new portion of the business — if we knew how to tap into them.
Team Building Always Comes Back To CommunicationWhat are you saying to your team? What is your team saying to you? To be effective you have to get clear about what you really want from your team and who they really are. Are they right for the job you're giving them? To make the most of any team's potential, start with 1 simple action: Listen/observe first. Before adding to or promoting within your team, listen to who the person really is. When it's interview time, polished people know how to "turn it on." The only way to get around this is to put them in real life settings and let them deal:
This is where simulated or trial experiences come into play. A Trial Basis or Test EnvironmentI used a trial basis/test environment for years when hiring administrative assistants and other team members that worked directly with me. After the first interview, the few candidates who were chosen to move onto the 2nd and final interview with the director were given 3 office assignments to complete in 30 minutes or less. Yes, it was a test. All candidates were told at least 48 hours in advance and given a cheat sheet so to speak. The Cheat SheetThey were told the tools that they would need to use in order to complete the test on time. And they were told exactly what the assignment was: recreating a flyer, typing a letter and preparing it to go out to a list of 19 recipients (as a former instructor at the local technical school I knew what the applicants were supposed to know and I knew what our office needed). This trial/test environment saved us time and probably saved quite a few trees:
True to form, my favorite candidates from the initial interview often changed after this trial environment. In an industry that typically had a high turn over (less than a year) — most of my core team held their positions for 2 to 6 years. While there where other tools and communication standards at play, the interview process was step one in observing who they were under pressure. Listen Photo via Shutterstock From Small Business Trends |
| 5 Reasons Why You Need a Content Managed Website Posted: 10 Jul 2012 08:00 AM PDT I am often surprised when I meet with a new web design client and they describe the kind of site they want and they make no mention of a content management system (CMS.) Now to be fair, I understand that there are still a lot of people out there who are unfamiliar with what exactly a CMS is, and how it can positively impact their business.
A CMS is a computer system that allows for publishing, editing and modifying content all without having to touch the website’s code. This is great news for business owners who aren’t particularly tech savvy. Typically, the process you would go through to have a site designed for you is the same as it has always been. You meet with your web designer and communicate your needs with them. They then design and build the site, but they do it within the framework of a specified CMS. Then you can take control of the site by adding content and expanding the site as needed. There are many CMS’ out there, but the most popular today are WordPress, Joomla and Drupal. Many of my clients think of WordPress as purely a blogging platform, but that really isn’t true anymore. It can be used accomplish any number of tasks, and I have done and seen some pretty cool things done with WordPress. Many design firms can also provide you with a custom CMS built to your exact specifications if what you want cannot be built within any of the existing systems. In my experience however, any of the Big 3 will work just fine. I always recommend a CMS to my clients, even if they don’t think they need one. Once I explain the benefits, they almost always agree, and are actually really excited about the possibilities that a CMS can open up for their business. Here are the five big reasons why you need a CMS: You Can Control Your ContentIn the days of static websites, you would not only pay a web design firm or freelancer to design and build your site, but to update it as well. After all, you probably don’t know how to write code, so it would only make sense to let the experts handle that. Because of this, most websites would remain unchanged for years. Well times have changed. It is no longer acceptable to run a “set it and forget it” website. We are living in a social media driven world now and people expect new, fresh content on a regular basis. With the CMS platforms available today, it is extremely easy to maintain a website. Even with absolutely no coding knowledge, anybody can add articles, news, photos and videos through a user-friendly back-end interface. You no longer have to wait for your web designer/developer to get to your updates. You can add your new content and upload it either instantaneously or schedule it for later. Its ExpandableLet’s say you are a start-up company. Not big yet, but plenty of room to grow. Wouldn’t it be great to have a custom website that can grow as your business does? With a CMS, your designer can build you a site to grow on. If you have an e-commerce store, all that needs to be designed is a set of templatized product pages that you can use to add more products as you acquire them. Similarly, lets say you need to add a whole new section to your site a year down the road. Maybe you own a restaurant and you expand to a second location. It would make sense to add another page for the new restaurant. All you would need to do is log in to the CMS, choose a page template, give it a title and add the content. You can then choose for that page to show up on the website’s main menu if you wish. You Will Save MoneyApart from the hassle of having to go to your web designer every time you need to make an update, there is also the issue of the extra expense involved. Web design doesn’t come cheap, (assuming you go with a skilled designer,) and constant updates can really eat up your bottom line. With a CMS, you can either take on the duties of updating the site yourself, or task somebody within your company to do it. Either way, bringing site updates in-house is a huge money saving move. On top of that, the start-up cost of having a website built within a CMS is usually not much more than that of a static site. You Can Add functionalityOne of my favorite benefits of using a CMS is the seemingly endless supply of extensions and plugins that can add to your site’s functionality. Did you forget to have your designer add an automated reservation booking system? There’s a plugin for that. Simply do a search, click an button and its installed. There are extensions for everything from search engine optimization to capturing leads. CMS plugins are amazing for adding new functionality to your site with minimal effort. However, I caution you to not go overboard with them, because if you use too many, they can really slow your site down. But then again, there’s also a plugin to help with that. It’s Considered “Best Practice”It is for all these reasons perhaps, that building a site using a CMS is considered to be today’s best practice. It is now the industry standard because, simply put, building a site the old way just doesn’t make much sense anymore. Mostly this has to do with the fact that web standards, in general, have shifted away from static, unchanging sites over to more dynamic sites with frequent updates. Search engines want to see that you are adding to the online community on a consistent basis, and they will reward you with higher search engine rankings if you do. Going beyond search engine results, your visitors are much more likely to come back if you have something new to show them on a regular basis. Ultimately, this is what’s most important, as the more times a customer or potential customer visits your site, the more likely they are to make a purchase. This goes for businesses that sell products on their sites, as well as more service-based businesses. Final ThoughtsWith all of these benefits, can you think of any reason to stick with a static website? Even if you don’t plan on updating your content frequently, you are much better off having the option to do so. Chances are, you will learn to see the value in updatable content, as the internet is moving in a more and more social direction every day. When you are ready to start taking control of your own content, you will be glad to have an easy way to do it.
From Small Business Trends |
| Every Small Business Should Be A Google Power Searcher Posted: 10 Jul 2012 05:00 AM PDT Google is hosting a free, online community-based course called Power Searching with Google, designed to showcase advanced Google shortcuts and lesser known search features. The course will be released in six 50-minute sessions and will show you how to use Google to solve everyday problems and find what you need faster. As a business owner, you'd be wise to register.
And do it fast; the first class will be released later today! From the Power Searching with Google announcement post:
To graduate from the course, users will need to pass a post-course assessment. Once completed, you'll receive a Certification of Completion. Obviously, it's not the printable certificate that you're after. SMBs should enroll in this free online course because, quite simply, learning how Google search operates and how to take advantage of all its features makes you a better, smarter and more prepared business on the Web. What will it offer you? 1. Competitive Intelligence: If there's one thing small businesses owners know all too well is that Google is always on the move. New features and shortcuts are released all the time and you may not catch them the first time around. By educating yourself on the advanced features that Google deems important may open your eyes to things you should be incorporating on your Web site. For example, if you know that Google offers users a way to search by recipes than you know that you'll want to use Schema.org to help you include certain types of information in your meta data to make it searchable. Similarly, if you know Google can translate content on the fly or identify where pictures have been taking, that may give you new ideas about how to get your content seen by more people. Knowing a Google shortcut exists gives you the chance to optimize and leverage it. 2. Think Like a Searcher: As business owners and consultants, we think differently about search and our sites than other people. We spend so much time worrying about keywords and links that we forget what it's like to be a "normal" searcher with basic searcher needs. By getting yourself back into the searcher mindset you'll focus on what's important to them.
By becoming educated on how Google is speeding up search for users, we can then look at our sites through the same lens to address users' needs faster. If Google is helping customers track down information related to a zip code, that's a clear indication these are things "normal" searchers are after and we should make sure (a) our site contains them and (b) that they're easy to find. 3. Save Time: Hey, you use Google too, right? And you're typically pretty busy? Wouldn't it be nice to learn about some of the advanced Google features you didn't know about so you can complete your tasks faster and impress your friends with your Google knowledge? It's important consultants and biz owners learn how to maximize the tools they rely on to get more from them. And that includes Google. If you're using Google to bring traffic to your site and grow your business, it's your responsibility to stay up-to-date on how it works and the opportunities available to you. 4. Potential Networking: As part of the interactive approach of this class, attendees will be able to attend Hangouts on Air with noted search experts and Google employees. They'll be able to ask specific questions and get potential face time with people in the know. It seems to me this kind of networking opportunity – one where you can rub virtual elbows with experts AND people in similar situations – is one that no consultant should want to pass up. Registration for Powering Searching with Google is open until July 16th, however, the first course will be released today (July 10). After that, new classes will become available every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Attendees will have a two week window to complete them and earn their certificate. Power Search Photo via Shutterstock From Small Business Trends |
| PayPal Celebrates and Fancy Leads A Money-Making Revolution Posted: 10 Jul 2012 02:30 AM PDT Making money is the backbone of business, of course, but in recent years some are revolutionizing approaches to monetizing businesses and accepting payments for products and services. Here are some ways you may already be making money in your business. If not, it’s food for thought. PayPal Keeps EvolvingPayPal pays its dues. Ranking as one of the top tech purchases in Silicon Valley history, Ebay’s acquisition of PayPal ten years ago is paying off. The company celebrates half a trillion in online earnings this year. Many businesses use PayPal for transactions, and not just for Ebay auctions. Venture Beat Getting it together. PayPal is a money-making machine serving potentially millions of small business owners and entrepreneurs. But why stop there, says David Marcus, company president, in a recent post. The payment transfer giant is making some changes to simplify operations for those who use the company’s services. PayPal Blog Fancy Builds A New ModelCurating for dollars. Move over Klout and Kred. This new social site is giving a lot more than points for your influence. Instead, New York-based Fancy will reward you with earnings for some of the products you share with friends on Facebook and Twitter. Gigaom Very Pinteresting. The social site that might get the biggest run for its money from New York-based Fancy is Pinterest. While Pinterest is now well-known for its ability to drive massive amounts of traffic to e-commerce sites, Fancy will soon offer something more. Forbes Online Advertising StrugglesNeck and neck. A recently announced $6.3 billion loss by Microsoft in its purchase of aQuantive in 2007 shows how competitive the online advertising business has become. Microsoft had made the purchase in an effort to compete with Google and Yahoo! advertising products whose popularity persists with online businesses. Reuters A dangerous game. But counting on revenue, at least from online advertising services like Google AdSense, remains risky business. Online entrepreneur Holly Hanna tells us first hand how quickly and sometimes arbitrarily online advertising arrangements like this can come to an end. Listen to her personal story. The Work at Home Woman AdSense alternatives. Of course, Google AdSense is not the only game in town. Here are at least five alternatives your business might want to consider when looking for ways to advertise online or to monetize your Website or content as an additional source of revenue. Techno Buffalo Other OpportunitiesFiverr flirtation. Users of the site that allows freelancers to offer a wide range of services to clients for $5 aren’t breaking any sales records yet. However, 60 percent of Fiverr users have earned at least $100, while 27 percent have earned more than $500. There could be a business model here. US News & World Report App advertising is apropos. While privacy advocates may be concerned about the adware in an increasing number of free apps, the trend might also represent a future means of advertising and revenue for small businesses. Does your business have a free app for download? Does it offer you a means of communicating with customers? All Things Digital Killing cash. Tech giants and startups alike are encouraging customers to move away from cash to paying for products and services using their smartphones. And it’s not just larger businesses that are benefiting from the change. Your small business will have many opportunities in a new, cashless market. CNN Money From Small Business Trends |
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