Marketing

A Small Marketing Budget Calls For Smart Spending

When times get tight, business owners have to make tough decisions about where to make cuts.

Often, the budget tightening results in less money spent on marketing. When you need to boost sales, it doesn’t make sense to spend less time telling current and potential customers about your products and services. Yet, that’s where many entrepreneurs look to “trim the fat.”

If you find yourself in that situation, here are a few tips to help you make the most of a small marketing budget.

Plan For Every Penny Of A Small Marketing Budget

No matter what your budget is, you should have a plan for how you are going to use it.

One big mistake small business owners make is that they don’t plan a budget for the entire year. Instead, they come up with an amount and then end up spending it all on one tactic or campaign.

A better approach is to create an annual marketing plan. This ensures that your brand maintains a consistent and sustained presence with your target audience throughout the year.

Invest In Social Media Advertising

Social media advertising offers a solid, trackable return on your marketing investment. It’s affordable and highly targeted. That makes it a great option for a small marketing budget.

If your target audience is active on social media, you will likely see results with a minimal investment. Take advantage of the targeting features that social platforms have to offer advertisers to hone in on your ideal customers.

Use Multiple Streams

If you have the money to spend, consider placing your message in multiple streams. For example, you might place online ads, social media ads and launch a direct mail campaign. Put tracking methods in place to determine which method produces the best results.

Setting Your Budget

A small marketing budget calls for smart spending, but how much should you be setting aside to begin with?

There are two methods to consider. One way is to see what your competition is doing and try to match or exceed them.

Another method is to invest a percentage of your revenue on marketing. Look at your previous year’s sales revenue and your projections for the coming year. Take a percentage of what you expect in sales revenue this year and dedicate that amount to marketing. A common range is between 7.5% and 10%.

Look for advertising options with the best ROI, and plan every penny of your small marketing budget to help your business maintain an even playing field with your competition, stay top of mind with current and future customers, and ensure the best return on your advertising dollars.

So…Your Business Got A Negative Review

Online customer reviews are essential for small business success. They are the modern, digital equivalent of word-of-mouth advertising. Consumers trust them. According to Constant Contact, 90% of consumers say online reviews influence their buying decisions. With so much at stake, it can be scary when your business is on the receiving end of a negative review.

You may try to control everything about your customer’s experience with your business, but you can’t control what they say about your business online.

Sooner or later, a negative review is bound to happen. When you get one, don’t panic. Instead, use the experience to make your business better.

Don’t Delete Negative Reviews

No matter how well you run your business, it’s completely normal to have unhappy customers now and then. Showing negative reviews lets potential customers know you have nothing to hide. And, it can add more credibility to your positive reviews.

Address Negative Reviews

Address the customer’s issue quickly and publicly. Do so in the same place where the review was posted. This shows the customer and any potential customers that you care about customer service. From there, take the conversation offline. Provide a way for the unhappy customer to connect with you directly, by email or phone. You can get more details on their situation and work out a solution for them outside of the public forum.

Be Polite & Professional

Be polite and professional, even if you feel the review was unfair. Remember, potential customers are watching. You want to leave them with a good impression of your business.

Learn From The Experience

When your business receives a negative review, it’s a good time to reflect on what you’re doing right, and where you could stand to improve. Consider the issues that made the customer unhappy. Look for ways to prevent future customers from having the same negative experience.

Wobizzle’s Super Simple Guide To Creating A Small Business Marketing Plan With FREE Worksheet Download

There are times when a business needs an extensive marketing plan. You know, the kind you pay for – or spend a lot of your time pulling together.

For example, you may need one if you are applying for a business loan, or seeking other types of funding.

As your business grows, and you add more products or services or expand to larger markets, you may need a more detailed approach for your marketing efforts.

But the thought of creating such a plan raises so many questions. How much will it cost if I outsource? How much time will it take if I do it myself? Where do I begin? How will I find the time?

What ends up happening is that task of creating a marketing plan for your small business gets placed on the back burner – to be done another day. And that day never seems to arrive.

Virtually everything goes better with a plan, and marketing is no exception.

A basic marketing plan is way better than no plan at all, so that’s why we’ve created this guide and a free worksheet to help get you started. If you’re short on time, just do one step a day. Within a week you will have a marketing plan.

Marketing Plan How-To

Creating a basic marketing plan is as simple as answering these questions: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. I’m going to mix up the order a little bit, so stick with me.

WHAT

Start with the “What.” What is it that you are trying to sell? This, of course, would be your product or service.

WHO

Who is your target audience? Get specific here, because “everyone” is not a target audience. It’s really important to hone in on your ideal customer.

WHY

Why does your ideal customer need your product or service? What are the reasons that your product or service is a solution for your ideal customer?

WHERE

Where can you best reach your ideal customers? Facebook? Do they listen to local radio? Where are they spending their time?

I recommend that you come up with the top five places. Don’t choose random marketing options. Try to find out where your ideal customers are.

This step may take a little time and some research, but it will be well worth it. Delivering your message in multiple places to your target audience increases your ability to get noticed by them.

HOW

This step digs a little deeper. There are really two how’s. How much money do you have to spend and how will you spend that money?

How are you going to go about reaching your target audience? You already have the foundation in place. You have identified where your audience is.

Now you need to take your budget into account. How much do you have to spend?

How will you spend it? You may decide to invest a portion of it into social media advertising. Perhaps, you will spend another portion in a local event sponsorship. Write those specifics into your plan.

Also, how will you define your success and how will you measure it? You may define your success in sales numbers, website clicks, social media engagement, etc. Make sure you have a process in place or access to analytics tools to help you measure your progress.

WHEN

When will you activate your marketing campaigns?

Create an annual calendar for your marketing outreach and use the decisions you made in the previous steps to build out a strategy for the next 12 months.

If you count on the holiday shopping season, back-to-school, Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day etc. to help you meet your revenue goals, obviously, you will want to invest more of your marketing dollars during the time of year when your customers will be most likely to be looking for your product or service.

There you have it – Wobizzle’s Super Simple Guide To Creating A Small Business Marketing Plan.

S0…go ahead and get started. Download our free worksheet and you will be on your way!

Easy Ways To Improve Your Search Engine Rankings

A quick Google search of the term “Search Engine Rankings” pulls up more than 58 million results from around the web. Search Engine Optimization (SEO), is crucial to online success, but if you’re not an SEO expert, you can quickly become overwhelmed by the overload of information and search engine rankings advice being offered in every corner of the internet.

Really good SEO is best done by someone who specializes in the craft. It’s not cheap. It takes a high level of expertise, consistency and a long-term commitment to be successful.

But there are some things you can do to improve your business website’s search engine rankings without seeking help from a pro. Here are the three things that matter most. BONUS: They are easy to do.

1. Keyword Usage For Search Engine Rankings

Doing great keyword research is the first step to improving your Google search engine rankings. Develop a short list of words that you believe customers might use when they search the internet for a business like yours.

Plug those terms into an online keyword research tool. Google’s free keyword planner offered through the Google Ads division is an easy to use option.

Search for variations of your keywords and take note of the monthly number of searches in comparison to the amount of competition for each.

If you’re new to this, you won’t want to waste your time and efforts trying to compete for keywords with high competition. Instead, identify 10 to 30 low-competition keywords each with an overall “Monthly Search Volume” of around 2,500-3,000.

Also, identify and research long-tail keywords to increase your chances of success. Long-tail keywords are longer and more specific than regular keywords. For example, if you offer social media services, instead of using the keyword “social media,” consider drilling down a bit more with a term like “social media marketing consulting.”

New domains, sites with little content, and web pages with few backlinks are typically on the bottom of Google’s priority list when it comes to ranking. So, if your website falls into any of those categories, the lower the competition is for your keywords, the greater your chances are for higher search engine rankings.

2. Quality, Audience-Relevant Content

Once you have a sufficient list of low-competition keywords you’re now off to the races of content creation. Decide what forms of content will work best for your business model. It can also be helpful to try a few things at first to see what gets you results. The most common forms of online content marketing include:

Articles & Blog Posts
Infographics/Images
Press Releases
PowerPoint Presentations
Pinterest Pins
Industry White Papers

Whether you choose to develop your own content, or hire a freelancer, be sure that it focuses on your keywords.

3. Optimization For Better SEO Engine Rankings

Even the best content doesn’t stand much of a chance of being found without a little optimization.

When search engines crawl your website, they’re looking for phrases and terms that match the searched keywords. If your pages and content are aligned with those words, your chances of ranking higher improve.

If you have a WordPress website, using an SEO plug-in like Yoast SEO will make optimizing your website content much easier.

Here are some areas of your website where a little tweaking can make a difference.

Keyword Density In Blog Posts

Having a blog that is updated on a regular basis can greatly improve your website’s search engine rankings. It’s within your blogs posts that you will want to include the keywords that will help customers find you on the web. That’s where “keyword density” comes into play.

Going back to the “social media marketing consulting” example – if you chose that as your long-tail keyword for a specific blog post, the more times that keyword showed up within your blog post, the higher the keyword density would be for that post.

There is much debate about what percentage of keyword density yields the best results, but a good rule of thumb is to have a minimum density of 1.5%. For a 500-word blog post, that means your keyword needs to show up 8 times.

Titles and Tags

Make sure your keywords are included in your post titles and tags. The post titles and tags provide search engines with details about the content on the page.

Meta Tags

Meta descriptions appear in search results below the title link of your post, so it’s important to write descriptions that’ll help visitors get a quick peek into the page’s content before clicking on it.

Images

When uploading images to your site, be sure to include your keyword in the title of the image. Also, add an Alt Image Title with your keyword.

Consistency Is Key

SEO can feel a little overwhelming. But, even if you don’t have the budget to hire professional help, you can’t afford to leave your business’ search engine rankings to chance.

Though these tips only scratch the surface of what can be done, if you perform them consistently, they will help you improve your search engine rankings over time and help potential customers and clients find you.

Why You Can’t Trust Your Social Media Manager Too Much

As small business social media service providers, we at Wobizzle definitely support the idea of a small business owner delegating social media to a trusted staff member, freelancer or agency. That said, I recently found myself untangling a social media access mess for a small company that had placed too much trust in their social media manager.

It’s not the first time I have encountered the issue. So, I thought it was a case study worth sharing.

The Problem

The company hired me to take on their social media activity which had been stagnant for some time. I met with the owner and key staff members to discuss the business and formulate a plan.

I started the process of updating the company accounts, freshening cover and thumbnail images, and creating evergreen content. That’s when I discovered that there was no login or password information on file for two of the company’s four social media accounts. Further investigation revealed the accounts had been set up by a former staff member. That staff member had failed to share the information with others on the staff team. She had also failed to assign any secondary administrators to the accounts.

Basically, these accounts were still controlled by the social media manager who had left the company before I had been called in to help. The accounts in question were on Twitter and LinkedIn. The company had no access to the accounts. Staff members could not post updates. They could not assign new administrators. They could not make any changes to the pages. The control remained in the hands of the former social media manager.

In my process, I reached out to the former employee to transfer access. She was unresponsive. She either overlooked the requests, or did not feel obliged to help. I don’t believe there was underlying malice in this case. I think the failure to share was just an oversight.

Regaining Control

Regaining control of the company accounts was a time-consuming endeavor. We started by sending a message from the owner’s email account to the support centers of Twitter and LinkedIn. We explained the situation and asked for help to take control back. Twitter responded within a few days with instructions on how to proceed. The process involved uploading a statement on company letterhead to a link provided by Twitter. Twitter offered information on what the statement needed to address, and instructions on ensuring that the statement would be received by the proper contact at Twitter.

LinkedIn took a little more effort. After more than a week of waiting for a response on the support ticket, we decided to call a customer service number I found online. After several travels through a loop of “press 1 for…press 2 for…” my client was able to speak to a real person. That real person moved the request forward, and within a few hours, we had regained control over the page and removed the former admin. Before suggesting that you try this at home, I would point out that I think it made a difference that my client was a premium member (aka paying customer) of LinkedIn.

All in all, it took more than a week for us to regain control of the platforms. Imagine if that former employee had decided to use her power for evil, and had posted rogue updates during the time the accounts were not in our control. Perhaps, Twitter and LinkedIn would have acted more quickly in that situation. But regardless, damage would have been done.

Best Practices

Unfortunately, there is no across-the-board fix for managing the security of your social media accounts.

Facebook

Facebook’s set up is the easiest to work around. For a small business, having the business owner as the administrator on the account and assigning “editor” roles to other key players makes sense. The administrator maintains full control of the account. Assigned staff members or service providers are able to post updates and make some edits to the page.

Twitter, Instagram & Pinterest

For Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest it’s trickier. You must share your login and password information with anyone who you want to manage the account. The best security here is to make sure the account is listed under an email address and phone number that you, as the business owner, control. That would help protect you if the worst case scenario happened and your social media manager went rogue and changed the password. You’d be able to reset it or communicate with Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest to resolve your problem.

Third Party Software

Perhaps the best option is using a third party scheduling software program like Hootsuite, eClincher, Buffer, etc. These programs not only allow you to schedule social media posts in advance, they also allow you to maintain control of your account while assigning staff members or outsourced service providers posting responsibilities to your accounts.

Are you a social media manager or social media consultant? Share your best practices for managing access to business social media accounts in the comments below.

Freshness Test: Is Your Business Website Up To Date?

Does your business website pass the freshness test? When was the last time you checked in on it?

An outdated website is bad for business. Think about it. Have you ever visited a website that was woefully out of date? You know the type; one with old events being advertised on the homepage, broken links, or the latest post on the blog is two years old.

What did you think? Did you wonder if the business was still in business? You’re not the only one.

Your business website serves as an online destination for your customers and potential customers. For some, it may be the first impression they get of your business. That’s why it’s important that it be up to date.

So, bring up your website right now in another window and review these things to see if your business website passes the freshness test.

Business Website Freshness Test

Calendars & Events

Scan your website for any time-sensitive items. Look for outdated events, promotions, expired discounts or coupons and get rid of them.

Blog

If you have a blog, when was the last time you posted? If it’s been longer than 30 days, you need to remedy that. Set aside a few minutes to brainstorm some post ideas. Make a list, and then make a commitment to update that blog at least once a month.

You don’t have to write a 10-page white paper. Short articles – 400-500 words – are fine. Just remember when you are writing, to set aside the sales pitch and instead opt for blog topics that will deliver helpful information and value to your website visitors.

Don’t have a blog? You should consider adding one to your business website. A regularly updated blog is one of the best tools for improving your search engine rankings. It can also prove to be an unmatched marketing tool. A blog allows you to showcase your expertise, and gain credibility with your audience. That credibility makes it easier to persuade them to make a purchase or contract a service from you.

Links

Go through your website page by page and check for broken links. Delete or fix any that you find, and while you are at it, look for opportunities to add some fresh links. Up-to-date internal and outbound links can help improve your search engine rankings.

SEO

Speaking of search engine rankings, check in on your website’s SEO. Do you have keywords assigned to your pages and posts? Are your posts and images optimized? Make adjustments as needed, or hire an expert to help.

Grammar & Spelling

As a writer, nothing screams “unprofessional” louder to me than a website with spelling or grammar errors. Though the majority of your website visitors may not be writers, they will notice. Proofread your website. Have a friend do the same and clean up any spelling mistakes or poor grammar.

Design & Navigation

Now that you have some of the immediate concerns addressed, take a thoughtful look at the design of your website. Does it look good? Is it a website that you are proud of? Does it have a clean, modern look? Are you using high quality images?

Think about it from the perspective of a potential customer. Is it easy to navigate? Does it give them the information you want them to know as well as the information they are seeking?

How does it read? You want your website copy to communicate in a clear and concise way. You need to say just enough to give a good overview of your business, your products or services and what makes you different and better than your competitors. Too much copy can clutter the page and overwhelm the reader.

If you’re not happy with your website, consider a redesign. Hire a professional to help. If your budget is tight, you could consider using a DIY website platform like SquareSpace.

Make It A Habit

Once you’ve gone through the steps and made much needed updates to your business website, make it a habit to review these things on a regular basis.

Gone are the days when you could build a website and then forget about it for a few years. Effective, lead-generating business websites are living things. They evolve. They grow. And they should be updated on a regular basis. So, keep your website fresh. Your credibility depends on it.

RELATED CONTENT: Why You Must Have A Business Website

Keep Religion, Politics, and the Great Pumpkin Out of Your Marketing Mix

There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin – Linus

My husband recently came home raving about a new local restaurant. It was very small, with an owner who was working hard to make it the place to be. The food was great, the prices were great, and he was hooked.

The owner had done a lot of things right in his brief visit. The service was amazing, the atmosphere was very tasteful, and the quality of the food was superior. After he was served, the owner introduced herself and answered a few questions. She had it down – personal service, nice atmosphere, and excellent product – all very well done.

While he was sold, I decided to check out the restaurant’s website before committing.

Mistake #1 – they didn’t HAVE a website. That’s an entirely different post but suffice it to say that every small business or service professional must have a website before they open their doors.

Mistake #2 – she was letting her political agenda fly free on her Facebook page. In addition to a couple of political posts, her business “likes” displayed several very polarizing national politicians. Those displays alienated me immediately, and it wasn’t just because of the “likes” she had, but because she “liked” several politicians on her business page, period.

She’s not alone. There are many, many, many other businesses and entrepreneurial service professionals that do the same thing. Sign this petition or that one; call your Congressman; say NO to this, YES to that. Trust me on this, you cannot change someone’s political beliefs on your Facebook business page, and while you can debate and debate and debate, you’re still more often than not talking to a wall. A wall that could very well prevent that visitor from becoming your customer or client. People believe what they believe, and really their beliefs shouldn’t have anything to do with whether or not they frequent your restaurant, call for a hair appointment, attend your yoga class, or schedule a massage.

We live in some pretty divisive times, and with social media taking the lead for many entrepreneurial marketing efforts, it’s important to keep things that are polarizing, like religion, politics, and for some yes, even the Great Pumpkin, out of it. The ultimate goal of the business Facebook page, and any social media or marketing effort, is to build your business into one that people will know, love, and trust. If you have a client, or fan, or even a neighbor that feels strongly about a politician or political issue, and you get on Facebook and post something derogatory or that directly counters what they believe, they will probably begin to take a different view of you both personally and professionally.

And THAT can cost you money.

RELATED CONTENT: Why You Must Have A Business Website

Blogging For Your Business: A Beginner’s Guide

If you’ve done the research, you probably know that blogging for your business is one of the most effective ways to communicate with your customers. Maybe you’ve even added a blog to your business website, or have it on your to-do list. The question now is – content.

While the design of your website plays an important role in catching a visitor’s attention, when it comes to blogging for your business, content is king.

How Blogging For Your Business Helps

Blog articles are synonymous with the term “content,” but content can come in many different forms, including infographics and videos.

It works for you, educating your audience about your products or services and building your credibility as an expert in your industry.

As a bonus, regular updates to your company blog can help increase your search engine rankings, making it easier for potential clients or customers to find you.

The better your content, the better your blog. Here are a few tips to help you get off to a good start.

Table The Sales Pitch

Your company blog is not a place to advertise. It’s not a sales tool. It’s a place for potential customers to get to know you and your business. It also serves as a platform for you to position your business as a valuable resource for the audience you are trying to reach.

The value of blogging for business is that it helps you build trust and credibility with your audience. Those are two things that can ultimately convert prospects into customers or keep existing customers coming back for more.

Post With Purpose

Though blogging may have had its start as a place for dreamers to post deep thoughts, when you are blogging for business, it’s different. You want every single blog to have a purpose, and potential for the reader to benefit from it.

Your posts need to be relevant to your audience, and be something that they actually might read. If not, what’s the point of putting it online in the first place? Spend a little time brainstorming some topics. A good place to start is by thinking about common problems that your customers or clients face and offering your expert advice or pro tips for solving them.

For example, if you are a massage therapist you might put together a list of stretches for relieving neck tension associated with sitting behind a desk all day. A life coach could post articles with tips for finding motivation to achieve goals. Own a café? Do a blog post on your favorite herb and how you like to use it. You get the drift.

Brainstorm and come up with a list so you will never be short of ideas when you have the time to write. Try to post at least once a month, more often if you are able. When you have time to write, even if it’s not time to post yet, go ahead and write your article. You can schedule it or hold it for later.

You Don’t Have To Do It Alone

If you’re too busy to write blog posts yourself and don’t have a staff member who can do it for you, there are ways you can still have an active and engaging blog.

You can hire someone to write for you. Quality freelance writers are skilled at becoming “experts for a day” on whatever topic you would like them to write about. Find someone in your local area or consult websites like Upwork to find a writer who can help. Ask to review samples of their work before you hire them for the job.

It’s also possible to purchase content that’s already written. Services like Constant Content offer pre-written articles for a small fee. You can also order custom articles on topics of your choice for a higher fee.

Whatever route you choose to keep your blog updated, make sure what you are posting passes a quality check. Poor content and poorly written articles will undermine any potential that your online presence has. Misspellings and poor grammar will make you AND your company look amateur at best, and that is NOT what you want people to think of when they think of you. Proofread before you post.

If you’re just starting out, the idea of making regular updates to your blog on top of everything else you need to do can seem a little overwhelming. But blogging for your business can be an effective and inexpensive way to get the word out about what you have to offer. It is well worth the effort. Stick with it and just keep in mind that content is king.

Why You Must Have A Business Website

Here’s some surprising news, or at least it was for me. A 2018 survey by the marketing firm Clutch revealed that about one-third of small businesses do not have a business website.

If you own one of them, I urge you to make building a business website your most important priority.

Granted, through online listing sites and social media, there are plenty of ways you can have an online presence without investing in a website. But, they don’t come close to the power of a having your own little piece of online property.

Now, you may be thinking, “I’m just one woman shop,” or “I’m just a freelancer. I don’t need a website.”

Wrong answer. First of all, you’re not “just” anything. You are a business owner.

And even the smallest of businesses benefit from the online presence that a website provides.

A Business Website Helps Customers Find You

At the most basic level, a website helps your business be discovered by customers or clients that might not otherwise know you exist.

It’s as important, or in some cases, more important than having a phone. Your web address serves as a destination that can and should be linked to all of your digital marketing efforts and included on any printed marketing materials you use to promote your products or services.

It gives potential clients and customers a place to go to find out more about what you offer, and it works on your behalf, 24/7 to promote your business.

A Business Website Gives You Credibility

A business website also lends legitimacy and credibility to your business.

Whether you are serving the consumer market or doing business with other businesses, people are discerning about the companies they buy from. A well designed business website communicates success and professionalism.

Redirecting your domain name to your company Facebook page just doesn’t cut it. It is a temporary solution at best, and by temporary I mean days or weeks, not months or years.

I always cringe a bit when I click on a business website link and it sends me to Facebook. It just makes me think the company isn’t very successful. Potential clients or customers want to know that you are good at what you do and having a business website gives that impression.

This is particularly important for freelancers who are offering services to businesses. Potential clients want to know as much about you as possible before they contact you for a proposal or meeting. Certainly, your LinkedIn profile can give them the rundown on your career experience. But a having a business website says loud and clear that you are serious about what you do, and successful enough to be investing back into your business.

A Business Website Gives You Control & Ownership

If you are relying on a redirect to your company’s Facebook page as a stand-in for having a business website, let me remind you of something. You don’t own Facebook.

You have no control over decisions and changes that Facebook makes to policies, algorithms and such. If Facebook decided tomorrow to pull the plug on business pages or start charging a fee for businesses to have a Facebook presence, you’d be left scrambling to find another solution. Your online presence is essentially your digital storefront. Wouldn’t you prefer to have control and ownership over it?

Enough about why you should have a business website, let’s get to the how. You have a few options.

Use DIY Business Website Builder Software

Cost is often an obstacle and the reason that small businesses forego building a website. But, there’s been a rise of DIY website builders like Wix, SquareSpace, and others. These companies are making it more affordable and easier than ever to build small business websites.

If you’re short on cash, one of these platforms can help you get a good-looking business website up and running quickly.

There are some downsides to using these services though. You’ll have to contend with shared hosting and design limitations. Your website visitors may experience slower load times and you may not be able to get your website to look or function exactly the way you want.

Also, some of the DIY platforms do not offer complete backups of your site. That means if you want to move your site elsewhere in the future, it may not be easy to do so.

Hire A Website Developer

If you can afford the investment, I highly recommend hiring a professional web developer to build your business website. That could be a freelancer or an agency that specializes in website design.

A professional website developer can work with you on securing your domain name and hosting as well as the navigation, functionality, layout and design of your new site.

It’s essential that your site be easily accessed on a mobile device. Your developer can ensure that as well.

Content management systems like WordPress, make it easy for you to make ongoing content changes and updates to your website. Let your developer know if that’s something that you want to be able to do. He or she can build the site with that in mind and train you to use the system.

Cost of a new website will depend on where you are located and the complexity of your site. It can range from $500-$10,000+. Many developers offer hosting and maintenance services as part of their website build packages. A reliable hosting service is a must. If your web developer does not offer hosting, he or she can likely recommend a service for you.

My first business website in 2012 cost $1000. A year later I spent another $1200 for a redesign. A year of two later, I dropped another grand on another redesign. Looking back, I should have sprung for $2500 – $3000 initially to get the site I wanted to begin with.

I wish I had thought of it not as an expense, but as an investment in my business, because it is. My business website generates revenue for me and attracts new clients. It’s critical to my business. It’s paid for itself over and over again.

Bottom Line

Whether you sell online or not, a business website is essential if you want to attract new customers or clients and be competitive.

Having a website for your business gives you an opportunity to tell your story, differentiate yourself from your competition, and communicate your value proposition.

Still don’t think you need one? Do a Google search of your competition. If your competitors are online and you’re not, who do you think will get the call when a potential customer or client is searching for the products or services you offer?

Change One Thing To Make Business Networking Pay Off

Despite all of the ways we are able to connect with potential customers and vendors online, face-to-face business networking continues to be an important part of growing a small business. Problem is – few of us are born networkers.

I’m an extrovert. I have spent enough years in media, marketing and public relations to get pretty good at striking up conversations with strangers, but I know it doesn’t come easily for everyone.

Having worked at a chamber of commerce for several years, I have seen some awkward attempts at business networking. And I understand why. No one really ever trains you for business networking. You are just expected to show up to an event and know what you’re doing.

The Typical Business Networking Experience

Let me paint the picture of a stereotypical business networking experience.

You walk into a room full of strangers and you do what you think you are supposed to do. You pass out your business cards, deliver your elevator speech, move on to the next person or group of people and repeat the process.

My friend, you are guilty of drive-by networking.

What do I mean by that? Put yourself in the shoes of the person on the receiving end. Here’s how that might sound to them.

“Hi, I’m Michelle. I have no idea who you are or what you do, but let me tell you how great I am and why you should do business with me.”

I’ve seen it happen over and over again. It’s ineffective and honestly, annoying. Who wants to be on the receiving end of that?

The problem with this method of business networking is that it focuses too much on the quantity of contacts rather than the quality of contacts. Sure, you may walk out of a networking event with a stack of business cards, but you were likely unsuccessful at making any true personal connections. Also, you possibly guaranteed that some of those folks are going to avoid you the next time you enter the room.

My First Business Networking Fail

Let me tell you about my first time trying to promote my business at a networking event. Boy, it fell flat.

I walked into a meeting of a local public relations group. It was my first event as a new member. I was still working for another company, but was looking forward to networking with this group to try to grow my freelance business. I marched up to someone and introduced myself.

“I’m Michelle West, I work at company z and I also do freelance writing.”

The person on the receiving end of that looked at me, grimaced, and said, “Yeah, I do too,” and walked away.

I was horrified. As a result, it took me a long time to get up the courage to just walk up to someone and introduce myself again.

Here’s what’s so strange about that scenario. I had been successfully networking for years while working jobs for other people. But things got weird when I tried to promote myself. It’s like the wheels came off my networking bus. I was nervous and awkward.

Also, I forgot the cardinal rule of business networking. It’s not about selling. It’s about building long-term business relationships. Good business relationships are just that—relationships. They cannot be forced and they are rarely developed through a rapid-fire, drive-by networking style.

Change Your Business Networking Mindset

So, instead of promoting yourself, consider trying a different approach called Positive Networking®.

The term has been trademarked by Shepa Learning Company. The strategy turns the tables on the “promote your business” method of networking, and it yields better long-term results.

As an added bonus, it takes the pressure of you to sell yourself and makes business networking a lot more enjoyable. Consequently, the more enjoyable it is, the more you will do it. The more you do it, the more your business will grow.

What is Positive Networking®?

It represents a shift in attitude. Networking is no longer about you, it’s about the people that you meet.

So, instead of going into a networking situation with the goal of selling your business, you approach your new contacts with the intent of discovering what you may be able to do for them.

Ask questions. Get to know them. And think about how you might be able to help them grow their businesses.

Perhaps you can connect them with a resource or someone within your network that might be a potential customer or vendor for them.

You may be wondering how this is going to benefit me?

It’s simple. People do business with people, not businesses. And they are more likely to do business with someone they know and trust. If you approach networking from the standpoint of starting a relationship instead of closing a sale, you’ll begin developing that level of trust.

Also, it makes striking up a conversation at a business networking event so much easier. You no longer have the pressure of figuring out where in the conversation you should start reciting your elevator speech. You are just getting to know a new friend.

Network Like You Know How

Business networking done right is not about generating sales leads. It’s about building a circle of friends for your business.

Also, the reality is, very few people that you meet at business networking events will ever become your customers. Their true value is in their potential to refer you business. And, they are more likely to do that if they feel they know you and trust you.

It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

So get yourself to a business networking event ASAP. Practice your new skill and start building a circle of friends for your business. Network like you know how. Because now you do!

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