How Much Should A New Website Cost?

Kevin Craighead — Wed, 02 May 2012 16:09:37 +0000

“How much will it cost?”

That’s tends to be the first question I get asked by a client.

I’ve asked it when getting work done myself. And I bet you have too.

To be fair, it is a good question to ask. After all as a small business owner you need to know how much things will cost. However, it is a bit like phoning a house builder and saying “I want you to build me a new house. How much will it cost?” After a pause, they will then ask lots of questions such as, how many bedrooms and bathrooms do you want, what size should the rooms be, if you have some land to build the house on and so on. Only once they have all the information required will they be able to provide you with a price. Having a website built is very similar in that the price depends on a lot of different factors.

So where does the cost of building a website come from?

I am sure you have seen the adverts on TV that promise a website that you build yourself for a small monthly fee. There are plenty of companies that offer to drag-and-drop your way to a new online presence in a few hours and call it a website.

But that isn’t the type of website that a professional web designer will build for you. They will build a website that reflects your business, your goals, your brand. I’m talking about a website that adds value and is a strong tool in your marketing arsenal. One that is optimized for search. One that works across browsers and operating systems. In short a website that will make you money, not cost it.

So what is involved in building a real website?

Content
Whether you pen a few paragraphs or hire someone to do it, it’s got to be written, organized, keyword optimized, human being optimized, spell-checked and proofread.

Photos
Whether they’re original or stock, someone has to find, organize, retouch and properly size and output them for web.

Design
There’s high end custom and there’s minimal, but someone has to consider colors, fonts, graphics and how they all work with your brand.

Structure
Someone has to think about pages, navigation and usability, and the best way to get users from here to there.

Layout
Headers, footers, sidebars, call-outs, pull quotes, opt-in boxes, social icons. These things don’t magically place themselves on the page, nor should they be stuck somewhere haphazardly.

Optimization
Beyond keywords, there are considerations for code quality, site speed, meta data.

Functionality
Opt-in boxes don’t program themselves. Nor do contact forms, shopping carts or other features. There are fundamental questions like “what happens if…” and “then what?”

Compatibility
With half a dozen common browsers and twice as many versions, multiple operating systems and platforms, not to mention mobile, someone has to make sure your site works.

Launch
Someone has to install your site on a hosting server, set up the DNS, get your analytics, Webmaster tools and sitemaps in order and make sure everything is working in real life, including all those opt-ins and contact forms.

If this sounds like a setup for “…and that’s why a website has to be expensive!” it’s not. It’s just the practical reality of building a site. There are things to do and things to consider. These are just some of those things and they all go into determining a cost.

Now you know what’s involved, let’s talk pricing!

Pricing is not a magic, secret recipe. It’s just the cost of doing business, plus the value of expertise, plus the time needed to complete a project in a particular set of circumstances with a particular set of requirements.

£1,000-£3,000

This is most likely your entry-level range. In this price range you can expect a decent professional to put together a site for you that includes common functionality such as a content or image slider, contact form and opt-ins, photo gallery, blog and a branded design. While this range will afford you a site that goes beyond the generic template-look with features like a designed header or background and consideration for colors, fonts and layout, it’s not going to buy you a completely custom design. Often, sites in this price range are based on a WordPress theme or HTML template.

Even at an entry level you should expect basic optimization. That means your site is built to current code standards and optimized for speed, functionality and fundamental search requirements. While your content may not be optimized, the rest of your site – from basic meta data to sitemaps and other essentials – should be.

What you will not get at this level is copywriting or any content creation. You should come prepared with whatever content you want on your site and that includes copy, photos, videos or whatever else you need, plus your logo and branding requirements.

The bottom line: this is where you’ll be if you’re just getting started, a small service business, or one without ecommerce or data management requirements. Plus platforms like WordPress afford you the convenience of content management without the added expense of custom programming. It’s often a good place to start on a redesign, since you likely have your logo, branding and content ready and will only need to tweak and perhaps reorganize it

£3,000-£5,000

In this range you can add a fully customized design. This is where you get to sit down with an actual designer and talk specifics when it comes to branding, style and layout. Custom sites tends to be more time consuming to plan and build, so if you have specialized site requirements whether for design or functionality, you can expect to hit the higher end of this range.

You can add basic ecommerce in this category but don’t expect too many bells and whistles.

The bottom line: this is where you’ll be if you want to move past a basic design and if you’ve got fairly simple ecommerce requirements and don’t need anything customized like inventory management.

£5,000-£10,000

In this range you can get quite a robust website with accommodation for more custom requirements when it comes to programming, photo galleries and portfolios, forms, or other functionality.

You should also be able to get some keyword optimization here and depending on the size of your site, you may also be able to sneak in some copywriting. As with the last price range, you should come prepared with your branding materials.

The bottom line: The bottom line: think of this in similar terms to the previous category but with “more stuff” and a couple of added bells and whistles; perhaps multiple photo galleries, quite a few product pages, or more complex user forms. It’s also where you want to be if you need someone with a copywriter’s eye to kick your content up a bit.

£15,000 – £25,000

In this price range you can sit back and relax because you can afford to work with a copywriter who will take care of content creation and full-on optimization for you.

It also buys you sit-down time with a designer, not only for your website, but for logo and branding development plus mobile considerations, too, although it won’t necessarily afford you anything specialized like custom photography or video.

The bottom line: this is sort of the all-inclusive vacation of websites. It’s where you want to be if you want to take more of a “hands-off” approach to your website and let the professionals deal with everything from the creative to the content to the optimization and construction, with some bonus collateral materials like business card and letterhead design.

£30,000 – £50,000

In this category you can reach beyond “website” into “application”. This is where programming and functionality become so custom that your site is built purely to satisfy your business needs. Very specialized content management systems, inventory management, integration with third-party APIs and other special functionality come into play here.

You can also get a pretty robust ecommerce site with inventory and specialized content management that caters to the nuances of your product line and pricing scenarios. Just remember, the more requirements and the more little details and functionality you add to your project, the higher you go on the price scale.

You’ll get a fully customized design in this category, including mobile and, if you need, branding. However, copywriting at this level becomes more complex as you are likely dealing with product descriptions or other unique types of content so I haven’t included that here.

The bottom line: if you’re a retailer, distributor, manufacturer or other corporate entity with specialized data management or ecommerce needs, this is the place to be. In this range, your developer will create a project specification that details your website needs and then build around them.

£50,000+

That little “+” is enough to mean “whatever you want, sir”. If you’re in this price range you probably aren’t too concerned with budget anymore and there isn’t really a point to discussing limitations.

The bottom line: if you’re a corporate entity with serious internal and external requirements, or maybe a startup with funding and an experimental idea, you can reach for the stars.

How To Decide If The Cost You’ve Been Given Is Fair

So now that I’ve given you some pretty broad ranges and a lot of variables to think about, how do you take that and translate it into something that makes you feel confident signing on the dotted line and starting your project?

For starters, if you’re comparing costs between developers, make sure it’s apples to apples – you may not be able to do it exactly, after all there are a bunch of subjective factors involved as we’ve discussed – but you should know what you’re getting in terms of feature set and functionality. Then take into consideration the experience and portfolio of the individual or company you’re looking at hiring, the attention you can expect to receive and the general rapport between you and a potential developer. Even if the cost is perfect and everything else seems right on paper, you may want to think twice about hiring someone if you don’t feel that somewhat ethereal sense of connection and comfort.

Finally, you should consider one of the biggest and most often neglected questions…

…and then what?

Once your website is built, you’re barely part of the way there! You need an “and then what” plan for making sure your site is hosted securely and your data backed up properly. You need a maintenance plan, whether that’s you on a WordPress CMS or your developer making changes for you periodically. You need to stay on top of errors and alerts in your Webmaster tools and you need to get out there and market your website, track its progress via analytics and keep making changes as you learn what your visitors want and need.

That may be the job of your developer, your marketing company or simply you, but it’s certainly something to think about.

At the end of the day, I want you to approach your next web project with a bit more information than you had before so you can read the bottom line on your next proposal and feel confident that you’re being neither stupid nor swindled. With these guidelines, I hope you now have a place to start.

10 Tips On How To Find A Good Web Design Company

Kevin Craighead — Wed, 02 May 2012 15:41:48 +0000

An effective web site will attract customers to your business, generates sales leads and close sales – multiplying your profits along the way. Professional web site design firms must combine unique and innovative design with state-of the-art technology and support to make a powerful website package that produces results.

Before hiring a web designer, think about the following 10 tips so your website will get results:

Web Site Design Fees Should Be Linked To Results
Effective web design companies often merge flat fees with hourly billing for software design and installation. It’s never advisable to type in into open-ended billing relationships with Web site designers until the maintenance phase associated with the project.
Smart Web Designers and Developers Make Billing Easy
An experienced web-design company usually charges twenty to fifty percent of associated with the project fee ahead of time, and accepts payment through checks and major credit cards.
A Web Design Company Shares Its Work
Professional design companies encourage their designers to stay in portfolios representing their full capacity work, client information and testimonials. You possibly can request portfolios to assess the potency of the business enterprise s internet page design solutions.
Flexible Website Designers Use Time Saving Technology
Quality web design teams support the employment of inexpensive and time saving technology. This consists of open source publishing and e-commerce tools like WordPress for handling Weblogs and corporate information pages, osCommerce for online shopping features and Zope for building customized content management and customer interaction tools. These power tools enable businesses to achieve professional standards while saving time and money.
Efficient Web Site Design Professionals Blend Stock and Scratch sources
Efficient website designers always maintain a set of stock templates and images to speed up work. When designing a website for getting a client, they select an appropriate stock template and customize it from the beginning in order to meet client-specific requirements and be sure uniqueness and freshness in design.
Intelligent Web Professionals Distinguish Design and Hosting
Many web page design firms offer complementary and low cost Web-hosting solutions, usually as an element of their maintenance packages. Quality firms provide excellent uptime, reliability and service. Compare the retail price and great merits about an in-house hosting solution and an independent web-host in decision making for you.
Creative Website Designers Let Clients Handle Minor Updates
Experienced Web site designers develop architectures for Websites including publishing platforms that simplify the making changes. These plans are so effective the fact that they be ready to make minor updates in-house or when using the help of a less expensive Web professional. These web designers often save their skills for launching or re-launching websites and major revisions requiring considerable work on design, templates and graphics.
The Best Quality Web Developers Understand Standards and Accessibility
The designed website should go along with both web standards like standards for interface design and browser accessibility, and state and federal guidelines along the lines of providing accessibility features for a particular visually impaired and the ones suffering along with other medical insufficiencies. Experienced Web designers might also want to ensure SEO optimization of the web page and get away from it from become inaccessible and unusable.
A Good Internet Page Design Company Gets Honest about Rates and Turnaround Time
Even the very best efficient Web site designers can combine only two of three of the features (Top of the range, speed and low cost) when coming up with your web-site. Professional internet page design teams will give you accurate estimates about their rates, speed and turnaround time. Firms that happen to be higher in price often have smaller waiting lists. If the required time is on the market, you can obtain a top of the line website with just one lower cost. Go with a Internet page design firm that meets your business needs.
Effective Web Site Designers communicate well
Experienced web-designers support multiple modes of communication for interacting with their clients. Phone, email and skype are all common methods but they may also have a helpdesk system or even live chat. In accordance with your requirements, you need the communication method you wish best.Paying attention to Results sets Premier Website Design Professionals Apart

Effective Web site designers go along with their above-mentioned practices. Even more important, they make clients feel at ease about wading into unfamiliar waters. Definitely the right Internet page design firm can enable your online business to avoid wasting hard earned money and valuable time.

Google launches the ‘most radical transformation ever’ with new Google social search feature

Kevin Craighead — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:06:10 +0000

It’s happened. Something that has been touted for a long time has been launched completely unexpectedly by Google on 10th January 2012 via an underwhelming blog posting on their website. So what is this new, world changing launch? It’s called the new Google Social Search feature and it is the biggest fundamental change to Google ever. Could this be the start of Web 3.0?

So what is Google’s Social Search Feature?

I guess the first thing you need to know is what is social search.

As you know Google launched their own social network platform to rival Facebook last year which is called Google+. Just like Facebook it is free to join and it has the same basic concept of linking to people. This new tool has enabled Google to gather information on all of the Google+ members such as their postings, connections and pictures.

The new Google social search feature now takes the knowledge and uses it to personalise your search results so that are unique to you.

Google Social Search Examples

Let’s use an example. Say you searched for a common name like ‘John Smith’ before the change then you would be presented with thousands of John Smith’s on the web most of whom have no relationship to you. However, if you are a Google+ member and are logged in and do the same search your results will be based around any John Smith’s you know. These results will appear right at the top of your results as they are relevant to you. In other words Google will use Google+ to understand people and their relationships.

Google use another example where the author named a dog after his favourite childhood fruit called a Chikoo. When he runs the search he gets pictures of the fruit and of his dog together with search results relevant to both. Very clever stuff and something I personally thought was much further off!

What does this change really mean for your website?

So how will this change affect you, your website, or your online business? After all it means that natural search results from the wider web will now appear far lower down the search results pages. As will Facebook results, incidentally. So how do you guarantee a position of prominence?

The first thing you need to do is start your very own tribe within Google+. You need to become a brand that people want to connect to and associate with within Google+ and you need to do it now. The sooner you start the less competition there is.

I am going to figure it out and produce a list of tips for web marketeers on how to embrace the Google social search feature

Over the next few weeks I plan to figure out a campaign that normal website owner and marketeers can use in order to create your own Google+ tribe so that you can integrate your brand far more tightly to Google+ members and get your results appearing as often as possible for their searches.

So how is this change going to effect you? Does Google know what they are doing or have they gone too far? Is this Web 3.0? Drop a comment or a question below and let me know…

How to fix iPhone IMAP error “unable to move message to trash”

Kevin Craighead — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:41:30 +0000

When moving or deleting an email on your iPhone you get the error:

Unable to Move Message: The message could not be moved to the mailbox.

This only happens if you are using IMAP servers for your email and isn’t an issue for POP mailboxes.

How-to fix this error

1. Press the Home button and choose Settings.

2. Scroll down and click Mail, Contacts, Calendars.

3. Tap your email account.

4. Scroll to the bottom and click Advanced.

5. Scroll to the bottom and tap the empty IMAP Path Prefix.

6. Enter INBOX in capitals.

7. Press the Home button and then re-open Mail.

8. You will now be able to delete or move your emails on your iPhone.

Web Marketing Resources

Kevin Craighead — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 08:49:57 +0000

I thought it would be helpful to create a resource page that you can always come to for all of your web marketing needs. I’ll add to it as I go, but you’ll notice that I will reference this page quite often. I recommend bookmarking it for your reference and convenience. Enjoy!

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links and I will earn a commission if you purchase through those links. These are all things that I have experience with that I am recommending because they are helpful and are companies that I trust, not because of the commissions that I may earn from you using these products. Please do not spend money unless you feel it’s for something you really need and will help you reach your goals.

Design

WordPress: The #1 Blog Publishing Platform. Free and easily customizable with wonderful support. All of my blogs use WordPress.
Joomla: Free and easy to use CMS. Provides industrial strength CMS with hundreds of add-ons to customise it’s functionality.
Rocket Themes: The ultimate resource for premium Joomla, WordPress, Magento, Drupal, phpBB3 themes.
WooThemes: Woo specialises in WordPress Themes and boy do they look good. Highly recommended.
The THESIS Theme: Thesis promises out-of-box search engine optimization, faster page load times, maximum readability to engage and hold reader’s attention, and point-and-click design and font controls.

Hosting

Bluehost: Easy to use, 1-click automatic WordPress installation, and excellent customer service. Highly recommended for your first site.
Total Choice Hosting: Great hosts, although they are not the cheapest around they offer great support and have really good forums.

Product Distribution & Shopping Carts

E-Junkie: It’s compatible with Paypal Standard, Paypal Pro, Google Checkout, Authorize.net, TrialPay, Clickbank & 2CheckOut. Works like a charm, very low price to use. Comes with a decent affiliate program for your products.
Clickbank: Another digital products retailer. Probably the most popular. Decently priced, but comes with an amazing affiliate program for your products.
Paypal.com: Paypal is just ok for selling your own products through them, but you’ll need an account anyways to configure with and accept payments from the above shopping carts.

Keyword Research

Market Samurai: The number one tool for keyword research available, hands down.
WordTracker Free Keywords Tool: Spits out a number for the popularity of a keyword of your choice. Search volume numbers can be compared to find the perfect niche, or to choose keywords for your blog posts.
Google Adwords Tool: A tool to help you decide what keywords to use for your Adwords campaigns. You can also check to see the popularity of certain keywords and the competition for ads for those keywords as well.
Seo Book Keyword Suggestion Tool: Another fantastic keyword research tool, with even more information and numbers to compare and select the perfect keywords.
Seo Keyword Ranking: An excellent tool to keep track of the keywords you’re working on. Excellent interface and really easy to use.

Email Subscriptions & Marketing

Aweber: The internet’s most powerful email opt-in service and email marketing/broadcasting tool.

Advertising Stuff

Google Adsense: Make money by placing relevant ads on your website that are generated from advertisers using Google Adwords. This is free to use, but you have to register for an account.
Google Adwords: If you want to begin advertising on Google, you can select keywords and locations and you pay each time someone clicks on your advertisement.

Testing Results

Google Analytics: Google’s free website tracking and analytical tool. A must have for anyone with any type of website.
Clicky: Clicky is just like Google Analytics, except it’s easier to use, and you can view how many people are on your site (and what they are doing) in real time! Your first site is free.
Google Optimizer: This is another free tool from google where you can test different webpages of the same content, only changing one or two things, so you can see which one works/converts best. It’s basically a website optimizer testing tool.

Outsourcing Work

Elance: Hired service for just about anything you can think of.
Odesk: Another outsource website for freelancers, IT companies, programmers and web designers from abroad.
99Designs: This is a unique website that you can use if you need a logo design. It’s in a contest format. You submit the description of what you want, and designers will compete against each other to win money.
Virtual Staff Finder: Virtual Staff Finder is the best and quickest headhunter service on the web if you’re looking for high quality VAs for anything you want done by someone else for your online business. It’s run by Chris Ducker and I highly recommend it.

Books

The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss, Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich: Pretty much the most awesome book in the entire world.
ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income by Darren Rowse: The best book about blogging from the number one online blogger, Darren Rowse.
Moonlighting on the Internet by Yanik Silver: I also own this book and it’s really what inspired me to go full time working online. I finished it in 1 day because it’s so good.
Rework by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson: There are so many gems in this book that I model my business from.
Convert!: Designing Web Sites to Increase Traffic and Conversion by Ben Hunt: The best web design book around. The information on marketing online is fantastic and you won’t find it anywhere else. I use the concepts to build all my sites.
Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T Kiyosaki: If you have ever thought that working as a member of staff made you a wage slave then this book will confirm it and make you want to start up your own business right away.

For Capturing Video and Screencasts

Camtasia for Mac - for screen captures
Camtasia for PC (Camtasia Studio) – for screen captures
Omnidazzle – to draw on screen

iPhone Applications

How to Create iPhone Apps With No Programming Experience: The most extensive (and motivating!) eBook guide to getting your iPhone app ideas from your head onto an iPhone, without ever touching code! Tons of free bonuses to go along with it.

Niche Sites

The Niche Site Duel Hub: This is where 18 people share their journey of building a niche site from scratch and doing our best to rank #1 in Google and make money.
THE Backlinking Strategy That Works: Detail about the backlinking strategy I use and how Pat Flynn was able to climb a brand new niche site to #1 in Google using it.
The Best Spinner: The #1 Article spinning software that saves a ton of time by allowing you to easily reword articles that you’ve already written so you can submit them to multiple directories online without worrying about duplicate content.
Unique Article Wizard: Along with The Best Spinner, above, generates hundreds of thousands of backlinks. Check out the video about how it’s used in The Backlinking Strategy That Works (above).
Blog Blueprint: This piece of software generates high quality backlinks to your websites fast – up to 20 per day. For more information about how it’s used, check out The Backlinking Strategy That Works (above).

5 things your customers want

Kevin Craighead — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 11:58:30 +0000

Understanding what your customers want is key to increasing your sales. Give them what they want and you will get what you want. More sales.

1. Solutions to their problems
People don’t buy products or services. They buy solutions to their problems:

Buying storage space solves the problem of a cluttered house.
Buying a train ticket solves the problem of getting to Manchester.
Buying advertising space solves the problem of no one knowing a company exists.

What problems does your product or service solve?

2. Trust
There is tremendous scepticism in the world. And with good cause. This because there are many businesses that don’t deliver what they promise so people are afraid that you won’t deliver what you promise. It’s up to you to earn their trust.

There are many ways that you can do just that:

Offer free trials of your product or service. For instance you could provide free samples, free demos, free tips or free consultancy.
Offer a 100% money back guarantee.
Supply testimonials from your happy customers

3. Things to be easy
People hate things that are difficult or complicated. Market your business in a clear and uncomplicated manner and don’t complicate things with unnecessary jargon. Make your information request systems easy. Make your ordering system easy. Have someone on hand to answer any queries your prospects and customers may have. Make your prospects and customers lives as easy as possible and you will be rewarded with them returning time and time again.

4. To feel important
Everyone wants to feel important. Treat your prospects and customers with respect and consideration. Show your appreciation for their purchases, and provide your repeat customers with special discounts to reward their loyalty.

5. Freebies
Be generous in the free information you provide to your prospects and customers. It’ll set you apart from your competition and build trust with your prospects.

14 tips when using direct mail

Kevin Craighead — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 10:51:06 +0000

1. Objectives
Decide what your objectives are:

To generate new leads?
To generate immediate sales from new customers?
To sell more products and services to existing customers?
To circulate new information to existing customers?

2. Identify your target market
If you’re mailing existing customers then this is quite straightforward. However, if your objective is to generate either new leads or immediate sales from new customers then you need a mailing list. You can create your own mailing lists, or rent one – expect to pay around £100 per 1000 names.

Other things you need to know:

You will need to check with the Mailing Preference Service that your contacts have not opted out of receiving direct mail. A rented list should have already been cleared with the Mailing Preference Service, however it’s best to check.
You should also check with the Information Commissioner’s Office that your use and storage of personal data complies with the Data Protection Act.

3. Establish your budget
Although direct mail is a relatively cheap marketing vehicle, you do need to consider the following costs:

Time spent compiling a mailing list, or money spent renting one.
The mail shot itself. How many sheets of paper will you be using?
Postage costs.
Envelopes.
Labour costs. Time spent planning, sending and following up on your mail shots.

4. Response rate
Consider how much each response will be worth to you. How many responses will you need to make the mail shot cost effective and worthwhile? Bear in mind that the typical response rate is about 1–2 %. However well targeted direct mail can have a much higher response rate.

5. Timing
Plan the timing of the mail shot. Consider the following:

Most businesses respond better to mail shots received midweek.
Avoid holidays.
Is your product or service seasonal? For example, a BBQ is unlikely to be bought in December.

6. Learn from other people’s mistakes.
Which envelopes do you open? Which letters do you read? Which do you reply to? And most importantly, why? Copy the ones that work and avoid designing it like those that don’t.

7. Headlines
Use an attention-grabbing headline highlighting the key benefits to the customer, or at least arousing their curiosity. The headline must make the customer want to find out more.

8. Benefits
Use the body to emphasise the key benefit mentioned in the headline and also to highlight any additional benefits. If possible support this with facts.

9. Get people to respond
Don’t just provide your contact details and hope for the best. Tell your customers exactly what to do next. For example “Call today and ask for your FREE no-obligation copy of 101 marketing tips for business.”

10. Avoid looking like ‘junk mail’.
Personalise the mail shot. More often than not a “dear occupier” letter will go straight in the bin unopened. Personalise the envelope to get past the potential customers junk mail filter.

11. Experiment.
Use test mailings to establish likely response rates, and to compare the effectiveness of different mail shots and mailing lists.

12. Response management
How will you handle the response? Will you need to train employees how to deal with the enquiries? Will you need to hire temporary staff to answer the phones? And most importantly of all make sure you have adequate stocks to avoid disappointing your new customers.

13. Use a specialist
Consider using a specialist-mailing house if you are planning a particularly large mailing. It’ll save you time and money in the long run.

14. Analyse the response
This is one of the most important tips of all. If you don’t analyse the response how do you know if that particular mail shot or mailing list is working for you? Always record which contacts have been mailed, their response and update your mailing list for any mail ‘returned to sender’.

18 low cost ideas to increase your sales

Kevin Craighead — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 10:09:29 +0000

Growing your business doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive. These simple, cost-effective ideas are designed to help you increase your sales, without draining your budget.

1. Focus on helping instead of selling
You shouldn’t be trying to force people into purchasing your product or service. You should find people who may want your product or service and then focus on offering helpful information so that they can make an informed decision. There’s an old saying, “You can get everything you want, by helping enough people get what they want.”

See 5 things your customers want for tips on what your customers want.

2. Be persistent
Persistence is power when it comes to increasing your sales and profit. Far too many businesses fail because they don’t follow-up leads repeatedly. Most sales are made after the seventh or eighth contact — the sale is rarely made after just one – so be persistent.

3. Focus on benefits instead of features
Spend your time focusing on how your potential customers will benefit if they purchase your product or service. For example, if you’re selling central heating, don’t sell the power of the unit — sell the warmth. Selling insurance? Don’t sell the coverage — sell the peace of mind. Rather than using words like I, me, and my use you and your. Put the customer at the centre of your business and always look at your marketing from their point of view.

4. Listen to your customers
Ask your customers how you could improve your products or services. If you listen to their recommendations, they will feel valued. You’ll also be able to give them exactly what they want — not what you think they want. In turn you will get more of what you want — sales!

5. Give a free demonstration
If possible, give free demonstrations of your products or services to people who may be interested. Follow-up with these potential customers in a timely manner to attempt to convert their interest into sales.

6. Distribute free samples
If possible, get samples into the hands of people who may be potential customers. People like to try before they buy.

7. Target the right people
If you try to market to everybody then you end up targeting nobody. Decide who might be interested in your product or service and target them. For instance, people who live in flats or apartments are unlikely to purchase a conservatory so don’t target them. It is a waste of your time and money.

8. Trust Is A Must
Sales are rarely made after just one contact because potential customers need to get to know and trust you before they are willing to progress to the next stage. In order to build this trust you must work at relationships with your potential customers. Take your time and show that you are trustworthy, reputable and reliable so that your potential customer will be in no doubt you will do what you say you will do. Once they are comfortable with your company the sale will follow.

9. Networking
Networking is a great way to get your message out to a large number of people, for free. Since each person knows about 250 other people, you can spread the word about your business quickly. Go to your local Chamber of Commerce meetings. Shake hands at business functions. Exchange business cards with associates you see in stores, churches and community events.

10. Make it easy for people to do business with you
Your customers are not going to work for you — you have to work for them. Do anything you can to make doing business with your company a pleasure.

11. Generate referrals
Referrals are a great way to generate new business. Don’t just wait for people to refer you. Proactively ask for referrals from existing customers, acquaintances, family and friends. Don’t forget to graciously thank anybody who refers your business to someone.

12. Distribute informative literature
Make sure that the benefits and features of your product or service get into the hands of your potential customers. If people don’t know what you do, or what you sell, or the benefits of using your product or service then how can they make a decision to purchase it?

13. Listen to your employees
Nobody knows their jobs better than your own staff. They see all the problems and issues on a daily basis. Chances are, they also know the best ways to solve them too. Ask your staff what the biggest issues are and get their ideas on how to solve them. Then give them the power to go out and change things so they can do their work as easily and simply as possible. Not only will you make your employees happier, you will get some brilliant cost saving ideas too.

14. Make it clear what to do next
You have written the best marketing letter or advert you can. It puts the customers requirements first but you still get very little response. Sound familiar? This is a common problem caused by not making it clear what should happen next. Do not leave your contact details and hope for the best. Make it crystal clear so potential customers know what to do. For instance write “Call today and ask for your free no-obligation copy of 101 marketing tips for business”. This simple instruction makes it easy for someone to respond.

15. Use testimonials
Whenever an existing or potential customer says something positive about your company, ask them if you could use their statement in your marketing materials. Your company’s credibility will increase with the use of testimonials from happy customers. This credibility then helps build trust, which in turn will lead to sales.

16. Offer to be a speaker
Business organisations such as the Chamber of Commerce are always looking for speakers for their meetings. Contact these groups and offer to talk about your area of expertise. Not only will you be viewed as an expert in your field you will also generate interest in your business that can be turned into sales.

17. Focus on the lifetime value of your customers
Don’t focus on generating one-off customers. Build a relationship so that your customers become repeat, lifelong customers. Remember it costs roughly 10 times as much to find a new customer than it does to keep an existing one.

18. Learn from the experts
Marketing is an important skill based on both knowledge and experience. The fastest way to gain that knowledge is to find someone who knows what works and can advice you on the best solutions for you and your particular business.

Web Design For Virtual Assistants

Kevin Craighead — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 17:03:20 +0000

Website Design For Virtual Assistants (VA)

You need a website that really shows off what your Virtual Assitant Business can do. Simple, clear and engaging like the web design we did for Kaleidoscope, a Virtual Assitant business based in the UK.

Virtual Assistant web design we did for Kaleidoscope, a UK business - click the image to view the website

Bespoke Content Management System Website Design

Kevin Craighead — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 15:41:53 +0000

Bespoke Website Design

Your requirements might be so unique that you require a bespoke content management system built to meet your needs. For example you may need to meet specific accessibility requirements.

We Built A Bespoke Website With Lots Of Unique Features For North York County Council - Click To View The Website

The key is to ensure your site meets the visitors requirements and provides useful and engaging content.