By Amy Lyden, Australian Businesswomen’s Network Advocacy Advisor

“You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.” – Walt Disney

As an American who calls Australia home now, I have to be a little careful about my ongoing complaints about service levels in this country and the desperate need for improvement in many cases. I’ve lived here nearly 20 years and it only takes a trip back to the US to ignite my passion about this subject. Before you tell me to go back to America, I have an experience to share with you.

The Magic that is Disneyland

I visited the US at Christmastime and my husband and I took our two young children to Disneyland after catching up with family.

I have never had a better service experience in my life. All businesses, Australian and American alike, have much to learn from how Disneyland operates. We had a few incidents that had the potential to ruin (or at least dampen) our holiday, but the Disneyland staff turned them around 180 degrees into a positive. Let me explain.

Incident 1: The Hurl

After a ride, my 5-year-old son was complaining about a sore tummy. However, being a staunch Star Wars fan, he was keen to do the “Jedi Training” which was due to begin shortly. My husband took him to get a seat in front of the stage and I took my daughter to get some food to bring back for us all. When I arrived back to the stage area, I noticed that the crowd had cleared in one section and there was a man with a mop cleaning. I had a feeling of dread. Sure enough, it was my child who had been sick all over himself, daddy and the venue.

Cast Member – Jimmy:

Jimmy, a staff member of Disneyland (btw Disneyland calls their staff members “cast members”), came over to check on us and after wracking his brain about how he could help us, he gave us vouchers for new clothes for my son AND husband to be used in ANY store in Disneyland. He also said that if my son wanted to come back to do the Jedi training later that they would look after him. And they did. We came back two days later and the organisers chose him out of hundreds of kids to fight Darth Vader on the stage. He was jumping out of his skin! He is still talking about this.

Incident 2: Missing Our Flight Home (nearly)

We had pre-booked the shuttle from the Disneyland Hotel to LAX at 7pm for a 10pm flight. After a frenzied rush, we arrived at the pickup point at exactly 7:01pm. No shuttle. 7:30: no shuttle. We were in the middle of a large car park with 12 suitcases in the rain, waiting, waiting. I called the shuttle company and they informed me the driver left at 7pm and that there won’t be another one until at least 8pm, maybe later. Too late for us. I was getting anxious at this point. It’s not easy traveling with young kids in the best of times.

Cast Member – Ken:

Ken from Disneyland Hotel magically appeared in the car park to try to assist. He promptly organised a (very large) taxi for us and gave me a $150 credit on my credit card that was on file with the hotel (I didn’t even have to give my card or go back into the hotel to process). All this transpired within ten minutes. We made it to the airport very quickly and on time for our flight.

Yeah, But It Wasn’t Disneyland’s (or insert business name here) Fault!

The interesting point with these experiences is it wasn’t about whose “fault” it was. My son was sick. We missed our shuttle. It certainly wasn’t Disneyland’s fault. But Disneyland makes it about the “experience” and if something happens (regardless of whose fault it is) that may impact negatively on the experience, they take responsibility for it and make it their business. They want to ensure you have a great experience, full stop. They don’t just leave you to deal with it.

Clever clever clever – especially in this day of social media, blogs, etc. Every customer now has the potential to tell the world very easily about their experience with your company or product. Smart businesses will make it their business to ensure customers have a great experience. It WILL come back to them by generating more business.

I will go back to Disneyland. But more importantly, I will rave about how great they were to me when they didn’t HAVE to be. The ROI is impossible to calculate on this.

I believe Australian businesses have a wonderful opportunity to lift the bar and offer exceptional service and certainly the ones that do this will stand out and rocket to success.

Based on Disneyland’s model, here are some TIPS for offering better service:

1. Give all staff members proper authority to assist customers, including a budget to be used at their discretion. There is nothing more annoying than having to wait for a higher authority to deal with a problem (for both the staff member AND the customer).
2. Survey your customers about what it is that bugs them about your product or service procedures. Too often businesses only see things from their own side. As a customer, how many times do you hear “our policy is x” (when you are trying to get “y”)?  It doesn’t have to mean changing complete systems though. It could be a small annoyance that is easily handled like fixing a navigation problem on your website. The important thing is to get outside of your own business and hear other viewpoints.
3. If you can, solve your customer’s problem, regardless of whose “fault” it is.
   
4. Make your customers feel special. Create a culture of “caring” in your business.

Do you have an exceptional service story? Tips on how to offer better service?

MORE GREAT BLOG POSTS BY AMY LYDEN

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By Belinda Weaver, Copywrite Matters

When you send out email marketing, you are sending your troops into war. The first battle is with the spam filter and if your email survives, you start fighting with every other email in the recipient’s inbox: newsletter subscriptions, blog RSS feeds, emails from friends and colleagues and lots (and lots) of promotional material.

What does an email marketing victory look like?

You’re winning the war if your email gets opened. You’ve won the battle if your email gets a response.

Here are some tips that will help you win the email marketing war:

1. Write a subject line that gets your readers attention.

You could have the most amazing offer ever, but if your email isn’t opened, it’s worthless. Spark curiosity or simply explain what your email contains, but keep it under 10 words and make it stand out in a long list of emails.

2. Personalise your email.

Fill out the From field in your settings so your reader will recognise you as a credible source and personalise the greeting. “Hi Sarah” is so much nicer than “Dear sir/madam,” isn’t it?

3. Try sending your emails at different times.

The line between “work time” and “personal time” is heavily blurred so try sending your emails on the weekend, early in the morning and in the evening. Compare the results and see when your audience is most responsive.

4. Use lots of links.

When you scatter links through your email, your reader doesn’t have to work hard to follow the thread. It can be a number game, but the more accessible you make your content, the higher your click-through rates will be.

5. Include a strong call to action.

After getting your email through the SPAM filter, opened and read, you must direct your reader to some kind of action. Do you want them to reply? Tell them. Or visit your blog? Tell them. Just implying an action isn’t enough – be bold and really spell it out.

6. Optimise your email marketing for mobile devices and tablets.

As most of us access emails and webpages when we’re on the move, it’s worth making sure your email marketing is easy to read on a smaller screen.

7. Include an unsubscribe link.

This is a legal requirement, but it’s good practise to make the unsubscribe process as easy as possible. Why not collect some valuable information on the way out and ask them why they are leaving?

Most importantly, remember to measure, analyse and improve. A very respectable open rate is between 20%-40%, but this will be influenced by your industry, when you send the email, your subject line, etc. Try varying the elements of your email marketing, including your opener, how many links you use and your call to actions to see if they impact your results.

Is email marketing an effective tool in your marketing arsenal? Are there are tips you can add to the list?

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By Kerry McDuling, McDuling PR

As many, if not more, searches are conducted on YouTube than on the most popular search engine, Google. YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos. The launch and rise in popularity of YouTube has created so many additional opportunities for publicity and building profile, that are open to virtually everybody with a recording device.

Create a unique YouTube video for branding exposure

The options are endless and anybody with half a creative bone in their body can post something really unique that will give exposure to their message, company, brand or product. In fact, some videos that are really different, creative, interesting or humorous have gone viral; in other words, people have willingly shared them with friends, family and colleagues because they found the video interesting or entertaining.

When coming up with ideas on what can be created, options are literally only limited by your imagination and what sort of video/editing equipment and experience you have. The technology nowadays is not only inexpensive, but relatively simple to use.

Here is an example that a book publisher, Bright Light Multimedia, used to promote an anthology of love stories and poems in the lead-up to Valentines Day.

They uploaded two videos, each with a similar theme, but will a completely different take on the idea. The concepts are simple, but effective.

http://youtu.be/9O1b1RB05mA

http://youtu.be/czUjTm9K54s

Top tips for creating a successful YouTube blog post:

Use these ideas to capture attention, build your profile and maybe even get people talking!

• Keep videos short and sweet and make sure you grab the attention of the viewer in the first ten seconds. People’s attention span online is vastly reduced than offline, so you need to grab them immediately.
• Include an element of entertainment, humour or interest. Remember that just because you think your idea is fabulous, others won’t necessarily, so get a second, third and fourth opinion.
• Steer clear of making it look and feel too much like an advertisement. That is generally not what will get the attention of YouTube viewers.
• However, that said, be sure to direct viewers back to you so they can buy from you. Your website at the end of the video clip is a good idea.

In future blog posts, I will share ideas on creating a brand and expert profile via regular YouTube videos.

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By Bianca Board, Web123

Are your social media profiles helping your business be found on search engines?

Yes that’s right – search engines now rank social media sites in their results. This means whatever words you are frequently using on social media pages will count towards your search rank.

Higher social media ranking equals more traffic to your website! It highlights how important it is now to research and use your specific keywords on all your business profiles.

To keep your business at the top of the Social SEO curve, here’s 11 tips on how you can improve your search engine rank using social media:

1. Choose the right keywords – do your research!

   Using keywords on your social media pages is similar to using keywords on your website. You need to find words that relate or are specific to your business. Do your research and find out how many people are searching these words – if you are undertaking SEO on your website, it may be worthwhile utilising those same keywords. WordTracker is a great tool to get started researching your keywords. For example, if you’re an accountant in Melbourne, you could post statuses about ‘Accountants Melbourne’.

2. Make sure your usernames are concise.

   When I say username, I mean the name that your social media profile is under: your business name! If your business name just by itself isn’t available, then add keywords to the end of your business name. For example with Web123, our extended Facebook username is Web123.Website.Builder – https://www.facebook.com/Web123.Website.Builder
   

3. Let your keywords guide your content.

   If you’re not sure what to talk about on your social media profiles, you should let your keywords guide you. An important aspect is to ensure you don’t sound unnatural when doing this; keep it fresh and impersonal so your audience doesn’t get suspicious. An example of a keyword might be “Web Design Melbourne,” then next time you’re posting about a local creative event happening in Melbourne, you could use this keyword in the update.

4. Use your keywords in your images.

   Utilise the images you post on your social media profiles as an SEO tool. For example, use keywords in the captions and titles of the photos. If you post a picture of your staff, you could, for example, say “The Melbourne Web Design Team.”

5. Rename files!

   When you’re uploading or about to post any images or files (i.e. PDF’s, Word Docs), make sure you rename them to include a keyword or two. Never upload anything with generic titles such as image01.png.

6. Utilise Links.

   Regularly link to items on your website, such as blog posts or special offers. You should also cross-link between your website and your other social profiles, such as linking from Facebook to YouTube or Twitter to your Facebook or website!

7. Link your website.

   Include a link to your website in every online profile, bio, or directory listing you have – such as Twitter, Facebook, Squidoo, Google+, LinkedIn, YouTube, Yelp, Tumblr, Pinterest, Yellow Pages… the list goes on! Head on over to Google and do a search for your business name. A lot of people find they’re listed on a bunch of directory websites, but without a link. Make sure that all of your details are up-to-date, with a link through to your website.

8. Utilise social bookmarking sites.

   If you can get more links, you will improve your social media rank. Use sites like StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit to link back to content on your website and help improve your SEO coverage.

9. Include keywords in your Headlines and About section.

   Try and place your keywords in all your profiles or info sections. For example, on your Facebook ‘Info’ page, make sure you have utilised your essential keywords! Your keywords should relate strongly to your business, so tying them into your online bio should be a cinch.

10. Use your competitors to your advantage.

    Research your competitors’ social pages and see what keywords they’re using. You may be able to outdo them for certain keywords, or they may give you ideas for even better keywords to use instead. Now implement those high-ranking keywords to your strategy and beat them to the top of Google!

11. Measure your success.

    Regularly LOG OUT of Google and try searching for your keywords to see how you’re doing. Google remembers your searches so you might even try checking from a friend’s computer or your mobile phone. Keep a simple spreadsheet to see which terms are showing up where. (Tip: Try searching both “as a phrase” and just the words).

Learn to use social media to your business’ advantage. By implementing these 11 small steps to your everyday social media strategy, you will soon be ranking at the top of Google and attracting the right prospects through your social efforts!

If you’re unsure about SEO and how to utilise it on your website and on your social media sites, check out some SEO resources to help you improve your rank.

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By Nerida Gill, Admin Bandit

If social networking is the new frontier of small business, then Facebook must surely be the wagon that gets us there. However, showing up and staking a claim isn’t enough; you’ve got to work that claim to unearth any riches.

I’ve been optimising my own Admin Bandit fan page over the last few months and here’s what I’m learning.

Use applications to make your page different

“Customisation” is the Facebook buzz word right now. What it means is that you can modify the look and functionality of your fan page… and you don’t need to be an IT geek to do it. All you need is one of the many templates available online (the basic ones are free, while the more advanced attract a monthly fee) — setting it up is like painting by numbers.

For example, I used Lujure to create my “welcome” tab, which is the first thing non-fans see when they go to my page. I’ve added a banner, photograph, Twitter feed, testimonials and a link to a 55-day free trial of my accounting software.

A friend who runs a small saddlery on Facebook used Pagemodo to create her “welcome” tab. Compare the two to see just how flexible customisation applications are; the same basic technology has created two “welcome” tabs that are chalk and cheese.

Of course, you don’t need to stick to a single application. Horse Feathers Saddlery used Payvment to create a Facebook store, complete with an inventory function and a check-out linked to Paypal.

Just as exciting is how easy customisation applications are to find. The best ways are to check out the fan pages of other businesses in your industry, especially your competitors or do a Google search.

How to attract fans

Ah, this is where the rubber hits the road for fan pages… getting people to “like” you.

Let me say upfront that attracting fans is not a popularity contest — all fans, whether they purchase or not, have the potential to share quality content and boost your social proof; that is, your credibility and influence.

Start with the marketing basics:

• Add your Facebook address to your stationery, including your email signature, blog and website
• Regularly link to your fan page in electronic communications, especially blog posts and e-newsletters
• Give people reasons to “like” you. Make the benefits clear, such as special offers, free resources or sneak previews
• Ask. It sounds too good to be true, but “plugs” and requests through your personal Facebook page really work!

Apart from buying fans (yes, believe it or not, you can!), a competition or giveaway is the best way to get a sudden influx of fans, up to a couple of hundred at a time, especially the more elusive kind that you don’t personally know. However, Facebook has specific guidelines on hosting anything that comes under the “promotion” banner, so make sure you’re familiar with what you can and can’t do, and toe the line because I know people who have been unwittingly caught and temporarily suspended!

Viral marketing requires more work and doesn’t bring the same instant fix, but it does offer a sustained trickle for steady, long-term growth of fans genuinely interested in your business, not just the lure of a freebie.

In case you don’t know, viral marketing is about increasing awareness of your brand using pre-existing social networks. In the case of Facebook, it means regularly and actively participating in other fan pages, where you’ll meet and attract like-minded people. The really cool part is that every time you leave a comment or tag another user in a comment, you appear in at least one person’s news feeds, which puts you in view of that person’s entire network. Now, that offers possibilities!

So, which fan pages do you head to? The easy answer is to start with those related to your industry and expertise. For example, my business is part of the non-profit, accounting and IT industries, so you’ll see a stack of community, non-profit, philanthropy, IT and small business groups and peak bodies in my list of “likes”.

How to engage your fans

Getting conversations started is probably the biggest Facebook struggle for any small business. And it seems no expert or study has a fool-proof solution… yet.

Until anyone knows for sure, here are some ideas to try:

• Be human: share the bad with good, post photos of your office, life and day
• Don’t over-think your posts; say whatever pops into your head (within reason!)
• Ask for opinions and experiences, but make your questions quick and easy to answer
• Appeal to the emotions… people often respond to humour or injustice
• Thank people for simply being your fans
• Mix business and fun: I posted a photo of my dog at Christmas and my team at a convention with a spy theme
• Post regularly, BUT….
• Post quality over quantity: useful links, information, advice, famous quotes
• Tag people when you post about them or respond to comments
• Host Facebook events, such as sales, workshops, Q and A sessions
• Finally, look at super popular fan pages… what do they do?

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By Kristy-Lee Johnston, Footprint Recruitment

I found myself watching one of those ‘property search’ style shows the other day and was reminded just how similar the search for employees can be to that search for the elusive, ideal property.

I think, particularly for small businesses, the similarities are even more clear and here’s why:

1. You, the purchaser/employer start out with a lengthy and perhaps not all that realistic ‘wish list’.
2. You quickly learn that you will need to compromise, but in what area, by how much and at what cost?
3. It’s personal – typically you’re recruiting a new staff member for your own business, your brand, your ‘baby’. Just like typically when you purchase a house, it’s your money and you’re spending it for you.
4. The risks are high if the decision is wrong.
5. You are ultimately the one who deals with the consequences of a wrong choice, or wrong compromise.
6. At the end of the day, you’ve worked your backside off to get to this point, and you want to have your cake and eat it to, you don’t want to compromise – you want it all!

So how do you know whether you are looking for a rare needle in a haystack, or in fact you are looking for an impossible dream and need to compromise and move on?

Walk into the process with a clear understanding of what you are looking for and why.

It sounds odd, but understanding why you need or want certain skills will help you to further drill down and understand which skills, experiences and competencies are essential and which others would be great to have, but you could ultimately live without

Write yourself a values document for the new hire.

This is something I never learned in my years as a recruiter, but a rather clever business advisor shared this with me and having used it myself in my own small business, I think it’s fantastic!

What you do is make up a list of the values, beliefs, experiences, skills, qualifications, etc that your ideal new hire would have. What this does is allows you to clarify in your mind those ‘warm and fuzzy’ traits which will be most important to the individuals success within your business and your role, and gives you a great framework to assess all your applicants against.

Let’s face it, you will often find yourself saying that you liked a number of applicants, but each of them holds different strengths and weaknesses in terms of their experience. This is where this sort of document can make all the difference. If their values and beliefs don’t align, no matter how good their experience is, it would be destined for disaster.

Know where your target market is – and where to find them there.

What I mean is, know where your ideal applicant looks for work, which websites they trawl, which publications they read and what networking meetings and groups they’re likely to be at. But timing can also be everything; advertising for a role targeted at a ‘mum wanting school hours who used to have a high end corporate career’ in the middle of school holidays is probably not ideal – they’re busy!

Allow a realistic amount of time.

Of course, we all always want everything immediately, but sometimes it can take days, and possibly even months to find the right person. Perhaps a temp or contractor can help you get through the urgent stuff in the meantime.

Be open to change and think outside the box!

You have your wish list, but does it all have to be done by one person? Or can the tasks be broken up and completed by two or more part time, casual or contract staff? Sometimes it can be better to have people working in their areas of expertise, rather than trying to do all the tasks you want, some of them not always that well.

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By Vivienne Kane, Minuteman Press Prahran

When you think Virgin, you think Richard Branson. McDonalds – Ronald McDonald. Victoria Bitter – a tradie in a singlet and stubbies.

Have you ever thought what your business would be if it came to life in human form?

What are the values and impressions you’d like to project?

Would you be a cool Gen Y with a couple of tasteful tatts and slightly out there dress sense? Or possibly a well groomed corporate type in a pinstripe suit? Or maybe a grey haired lady with a nana trolley? Would you be old or young, conservative or cutting edge, middle income or poor, an innovator or a follower?

If your business is an expression of who you are, and you think that’s important, it’s a very worthwhile exercise to think about this.

Is your brand personality someone your customers would buy from?

It’s particularly pertinent when you’re growing from a one woman band to an enterprise with multiple staff, some or all of whom have contact with your customers.

Imagine if your “business personality” is a smartly dressed forty something with a quirky sense of humour , but your front-line staff are all Gen Y’s with little training and no spark or interest in conversation. Perhaps your customers might be a bit confused.

Don’t assume everyone will understand your approach by osmosis. It needs to be explained as well as modelled. Role plays are a great tool. Of course, you don’t want the “business personality” to be a straight jacket – but your core values, approach to solving problems and conversational tone should all be clear, consistent and reflected by everyone in the business.

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By Suzi Dafnis, Australian Businesswomen’s Network

If you had to get up tomorrow, or a week from now, and pitch your idea to an audience, how would you go?

James Stevens, Roses Only, Lindley Edwards, AFG Venture Group and Suzi Dafnis, Australian Businesswomen's Network

Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network (DWEN) recently gave four women the opportunity to pitch in front of a panel of judges (Dragons’ Den style) and an audience of about 60 other business owners.

These four entrepreneurs weren’t pitching for money, but were none-the-less expected to do their best to convey their message and provide enough information (but not too much) about what they were offering. In exchange, they got some business advice to help them improve their pitch and further their ideas.

I was on the panel, along with James Stevens of Roses Only and the delightful Lindley Edwards of AFG Venture Group.

Four courageous women took the stage:

1. Nikki Hills, founder and managing director, Mouths of Mums
2. Michelle Teague, entrepreneur looking for her next venture (Invisible ink name badges!)
3. Angela Elliss, founder and managing director, Australian Home Design Directory Group
4. Julie Ankers, founder and managing director, Statement Pieces

Overall, they all did a great job pitching their ideas.They (obviously) knew their business and were very passionate.

Some of the areas that they could have done better at were clarity of message, succinctness and being specific about what the outcome of the pitch was.

Despite the evening event being a great networking night for a bit of fun, the women did get some great advice from the panel, including these four areas below:

Four Ways to Improve Your Business Pitch

Length of Pitch. How Long Should Your Pitch Be?

Most presenters exceeded the suggested time limit. If you have an audience (whether with your bank manager, investors or a potential business client) and they have allocated a certain amount of time for a meeting – then stay within the boundaries. It shows you respect their time.

It’s easier to speak for a long time than to speak succinctly for a short time. So, practise, practise, practise.

Say what you need to say with the most punch and fewest words.

If you’re compelling, you can ask for extra time to expand, but don’t take it without checking in or you risk losing people’s focus.

A Clear Message Cuts Through

Nikki Hills, Mouths of Mums

It was not always clear what the intentions was behind the pitch each woman gave.

What do you want the audience/panel to do? be very clear in your outcome and state it.

For example:

Today I’d like to tell you enough about our 2012 plans to convince you to share our message with you clients.

or

I’m looking to raise $10,000 for marketing. Over the next 10 minutes, I’ll present our marketing plan and I’ll then ask for your input on our ideas.

Tell Your Story – Set the framework

Your personal story adds colour and life and allows us to see behind the person that is doing the pitch.

When I was a panelist on the Dragons Den TV show, we dragons signed up equally on the likability of the person as well as the message and numbers. People like to do business with those they know and trust, so let the audience know you.

Similar to the clarity of message point above, tell your story, but don’t get carried away. We don’t need to know your history and every detail – just enough to make a decision or follow a call to action.

Know your facts and study your competitors

If you’re going into a new market then learn about that market, your competitors and who your competition is. As much as we like to think sometimes that we have no competition, we always do. It just may not be obvious. If you’re bringing out a new telephone (I know – extreme example) then the iPhone is not your only competition – not is every other phone – it’s actually every other way that there is for people to connect with other people.

Also, the whole market is NOT your market. There’s usually a subset of the big group who you can effectively address. (This is your ‘addressable market’.)

When it comes to the numbers, get really crystal clear about what it will cost to implement a plan. If you’re not good with numbers then it’s difficult for investors to have confidence in you. Run the details past your accountant and, again, practise talking about them so that you’re comfortable if asked questions.

Remember, you may only have one opportunity to pitch in front of a particular person or group. Pitching is an art and a science, so look to improve your skills as a presenter, speaker and do your homework.

And, good luck.

Suzi

P.S. I recently interviewed Lindley Edwards about narrative in business storytelling. You can listen to the interview here on our website or tune in on iTunes.

About DWEN

The DWEN community is an invitation-only, global community established to bring together an influential group of female CEOs, presidents, founders and business leaders to share best practices within the unique and challenging world of running high-growth businesses.

With the Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network (DWEN) and other related initiatives, Dell is spotlighting female entrepreneurial success and creating an atmosphere where women can connect with one another, share best practices, build business opportunities and recognise female influence in business and technology.

DWEN Annual Conference: Dehli, India

In 2012, Dell’s annual conference will be at the cultural mecca of Delhi, India from June 17-19. Attendance is by invitation-only.

To learn more join the DWEN “Women Powering Business” Linkedin Community: visit www.dell.com/dwen

Being part of the DWEN community creates unique opportunities to connect, share best practices, build business opportunities and recognise female influence in business and technology. In addition to the annual DWEN Conference, the community holds webinars, Tweetchats and face-to-face networking events throughout Australia.

By Kerry McDuling, McDuling PR

A lot has changed as far as the way we do business, and as a result, the way we promote ourselves. While brand-building of companies used to be very much the focus of publicity and public relations efforts, nowadays the trend has moved more toward building a personal identity or personal brand, based entirely around individuals.

The reason for this is that, while technology has made doing business or making purchases so much easier and quicker, it has also made the process so much more impersonal. People prefer to do business with people, and those businesses that incorporate a personal touch to the transition are reaping the results.

An example of someone who has done it really well is Richard Branson.

Here is someone who has put himself at the forefront of the Virgin brand. He has created an identity of fun, adventure, creativity, courage, possibility. He is someone many of us can relate to. He is human. Therefore, no matter what industry he decides to launch into, he has immediate support. We can trust that new company because it is Virgin – because it is a creation of the incredible Richard Branson.

New media and technology lends perfectly to the idea of creating a personal brand. CEOs and Directors have created Twitter accounts, Facebook profiles and blogs for themselves where they share their business and personal viewpoint on the world around them. Suddenly we have direct access to the head of a large firm we are spending money with.

We feel important as a consumer because we can more easily be acknowledged by the person at the top, instead of having to be passed on from one department to another. We also feel that the business is more transparent because the top dog is putting himself/herself out there, and opening himself/herself up to public scrutiny. But perhaps most importantly, we feel we can relate to these people who used to be hidden in glass offices at the tops of very tall towers.

With this in mind, I would encourage business owners to create a personal profile for themselves at every available opportunity.

Here are some handy tips:

• Make sure your business’ webpage has an About Me page, with a short bio and a photo of yourself.
• When engaging in social media, such as Twitter or facebook, do so under your own name, rather than a business name. By all means, have a business page, but try making the content more personal.
• Be the media spokesperson for your business. Build your profile as the face and brand of the company.

By Bianca Board, Web123

What’s one thing you’re going to do better in 2012? I hope it’s taking action to improve your website! It’s a huge untapped resource for most of us small businesses as we can sometimes fail to see it as an investment. Like any investment, it should be showing you a profit.

Marketing your website and ensuring it is converting leads and getting you more sales should be at the top of your priorities for 2012. I have 12 pointers to help you get started on this… but trust me; they won’t work unless YOU take ACTION!

Pointer 1: Set your goals.

If you don’t have a clear direction or a set goal to target, then how do you know you’re improving? You don’t! Setting special goals can allow you to plan each step of the way and measure how far away you are from reaching the end goal.

Make sure you have SMART goals; in other words, they need to be: Specific, Measurable, Accurate, Realistic and Timely. Here are some examples:

• Increase sales by XX% during the next financial year
• Grow my subscriber list by XX by June 2012
• Generate XX leads on a weekly basis
• Grow my Facebook fan base to XX fans by June 2012
• Grow online sales by XX% over the next 2 months without increasing my advertising spend

As you can see from these examples, they provide a specific target that’s measurable, accurate, isn’t unrealistic and provides a time frame in which it needs achieving. Make yourself accountable.

So, how can you carry out achieving these goals? Through the use of Tactics!

Pointer 2: Define tactics for achieving your goals.

Put simply, tactics are what you’ll use to carry out your strategies in order to accomplish your goals. Once you identify the reasons for creating and investing in your website, you’ll find it easy to put strategies and tactics in place.

So really you need to work backwards. Define your goals first and then work out how you’ll achieve them. Here are some examples of tactics you could implement:

• Build a database of email prospects
• Promote my business through email marketing
• Sell my products 24/7 using a shopping cart
• Share my expertise through a blog
• Get a guest blogging gig on XYZ blog
• Create one webinar per month on specific topics

These tactics will help you ensure your goals are SMART and can be accurately undertaken without being unrealistic for your business.

Pointer 3: Are you telling your customers where to go?

If your website doesn’t clearly state what the next step is for a customer or where they should go to purchase a product or download a report, how will the customer know where to go? They won’t and this means they’ll either wander your site aimlessly or leave your site as it’s ‘too hard to find’ what they’re looking for.

Therefore, ‘Calls to Action’, known as CTAs, need to be placed on your site in order to clearly direct your visitors to do what you want them to do. The customer came to your website to hopefully buy, so place a CTA on your homepage that clearly points to your products, and ideally at least one CTA on every single page to encourage secondary actions like add to cart, join your newsletter, download your eBook, book a consultation, etc.

The use of catchy headlines and compelling copy is what can also be used as a CTA. If your headline doesn’t catch your reader’s attention straight away, then you risk losing that customer.

Pointer 4: Lead Capturing – What ‘FREE’ can really mean for your business.

People love getting things for free – if they feel there’s value. Putting a small hurdle in the way of someone getting something of value and then seeing whether they jump over it is a great way to filter qualified leads from casual browsers. Lead capture is the capturing of details (name and email as a minimum) for this qualification process. On the flip side, you could always offer free content without a barrier to encourage your content to spread more virally.

Lead capture, properly implemented, helps a visitor get to know you, like you and trust you.

Give them something of value, offer them ongoing information and freebies – and once they’re ready to buy, you’ll be front of mind.

When you’re planning out how to do it, it’s best to think of it as a sale where the customer is paying with information. You’ll want to use all the sales techniques you’d normally use to try to convert visitors into leads as you would converting a prospect into a customer. Use eBooks, reports, whitepapers, webinars, calculators, templates, checklists or ongoing advice as your “product”. Keep in mind all the profiling you’ve done of your ideal clients and use their hot buttons. Create content that helps solve their problems and you’ll have them eating out of your hands!

Pointer 5: Ditch the generic stock photo!

Stop relying on the same old stock photos for your website. Hire a professional photographer or, even better, hire a student photographer who will only charge a small fee!

Nothing beats authenticity and originality.

People like to see exactly what they’re getting and they want to know it’s of good quality. Even with service-based business, having photographs of your staff and what they do will add that personal touch and feel to your website. Real is better. As Ali G would say…  “Keep it real.”

I’m not saying don’t use stock photos because, in some cases, they are needed, but consider for your 2012 website marketing to include new and original photos of you and your team.

Pointer 6: How to get more email subscribers.

If you want to increase subscriptions to your newsletter, try changing the copy and making it more about your prospects’ problems, fears and concerns. Instead of saying ‘Join our Newsletter’, try ‘Free Expert Tips & Success Strategies to Make You More Profitable’.

Offering them something of value is the trick!

People’s inboxes are overcrowded with newsletters these days – what would entice them to join yours? A gift voucher? A Free report or eBook? Regular Free Advice? The list is endless.

We did this with ours and got a whopping 3600% increase in newsletter subscriptions!

What are you going to include in yours to convert them later on too? Free accounting advice? Industry updates? Expert webinars? Always send good quality content that will interest your subscribers. Continuous blast-outs of product announcements just doesn’t cut it these days.

Pointer 7: Accelerate your conversions via landing pages.

Landing pages are simplified pages on your website dedicated to capturing leads or sales for one specific offer or product. I’m sure you’ve come across these before – a page with a sales pitch, lead capture form and one button – one way in, and only one way out.

Your response and conversion rates can be drastically improved by directing campaigns to landing pages – it keeps your message and your sales pitch crystal clear and ensures they’re not distracted by any other of your messages. Landing pages for campaigns targeting different markets can push the hot buttons of different types of ideal clients.

How can you utilise this tactic? Simple:

• Create a landing page that includes all the information about the campaign you’re running. For example, if you’re offering a free eBook for the purpose of lead capture and you’re advertising it through online ads, ensure the landing page has all the information required for the prospect to download the eBook. Include the benefits they’ll receive by downloading the book and of course include your lead capture form. Don’t get greedy with the fields you make them complete either. Keep it simple at this first stage.
• All your advertisements should link to this one landing page. The one-click to the landing page allows the customer to qualify the product instantly and quickly download what they want.
• Ensure you keep your leads and add them to your database for further nurturing!

Landing pages are also great for promoting workshops, special product packages, eBooks or whitepapers and other valuable insider content you want to market.

Pointer 8: Become an Educator.

Building a higher presence within your industry comes down to how much credibility the viewers of that industry perceive you have. A blog is a great way to position yourself and your business as experts in your field – as well as generate quality traffic for your website. Think of it as a personal journal, explaining something related to your industry (and your ideal clients) without being sales-focused. And consider getting controversial too. Make a real statement with your opinion and you could gain more traction and comments on your blog.

This integrates closely with the building of trust – for the kind of reader who goes into depth on your website, they’ll see that you’re knowledgeable, trustworthy and not going for the hard sell.

A blog, like your website, is a living, breathing asset. Google loves recent content.

Google loves newsworthy content. Treat it with love and care to keep your customers and prospects coming back!

Other tools that show you are an educator within your field include:

• eBooks
• Whitepapers
• Reports
• Email Newsletters with tips and advice
• Tutorials

Test each type of tool and see which one your audience prefers the most!

Pointer 9: Go Video in 2012.

Video is the new way to improve your Google ranking. Utilising video on your site can improve your rankings in Google 50 times better than a page of text!

Not only does video improve your ranking, it also allows you to explain what you do easier and will give you a better chance to build trust with your customers rather than using text on its own.

You don’t need a film crew or expensive camera to do it either. There are heaps of free tools that allow you to edit video. Search your computer – it’s bound to have one!

Pointer 10: Slow and steady wins the race.

Search Engine Optimisation is a set of tactics and practices you can implement or outsource to drive your website up the natural rankings in search engines for the keywords you want to be found on.

The best way to handle SEO is to outsource it – make sure you go with a reputable provider, but know that the hours of work required to do a good job with SEO can be substantial.

However, there are a number of things you can do to improve your SEO performance without spending a cent or investing too much time:

• Think about what your ideal client is going to type into Google to find you. Do your keyword research.
• Update all your online listings. To find out where they are, type your domain name into Google with inverted commas like this: “www.mydomain.com.au” and hit search.
• Build additional external links. e.g., get your suppliers to link to your site, write guest blog posts, write articles and submit them to online directories for publishing.
• Set yourself up a Google Places Account – for help with this, you can see this post Listing with Google Places in 3 Easy Steps.
• And use video where you can.

It’s a known fact that 90% of search engine users won’t go past the first 3 pages.

In fact, about 42% of people click on the number 1 result. That’s almost half! Therefore, you need to get your business ahead of competitors. If you’re on a tight budget or the DIY type, you could even try a 30 day DIY program to improve your rank >>

Pointer 11: Social Media – Just do it really well.

As we all know by now, social media is where people (and your customers) are hanging out at. This means that your business should be there as well, utilising it to communicate with customers in a more personal way.

However, the point of social media tools like Facebook and YouTube isn’t about just being present. If you really want to make an impact and gain higher conversions from using social media, then you need to do it really well!

This is easier than you think if you have a good strategy behind you. Ensure you communicate on a regular basis if you’re on Facebook and encouraging participation in your posts from your ‘likers’. If you utilise YouTube, ensure you are regularly updating content and pushing links through to Facebook. Keeping active on social media will keep your audience aware of you and will eventually convert them.

Remember, only spend time where you know your audience does. Don’t waste time on Twitter if your audience isn’t using it yet. Research first then approach it from a strategic standpoint and you’ll succeed.

Pointer 12: How to implement and action for 2012.

Your brain has probably just overloaded and you’re now thinking, “How do I go about implementing things like this for 2012?” Don’t stress! It’s all about planning and setting out what you want to achieve… remember Pointers 1 & 2? They are your first steps. Then you need to sort out what tactics (pointers 3-11) you will use to achieve your goals.

Here are some quick tips of getting started on implementing:

• Set Your Goals – what do you want to achieve and by when?
• Create a Content Calendar – what are you going to market and when? Think of what you’re going to do on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual basis, then plan it out in your calendar.
• Measure using Google Analytics and Your Website Statistics – Measuring is important to ensure you are on track to achieving your goals. Don’t miss this crucial step.
• Review your progress on a monthly basis – if you aren’t on track, then you should refine your processes or refine your goals to be SMART. If one medium isn’t bring any sales, maybe it’s time to ditch it and put your energy into something that will.

As you can see, when you break it down, it can be a lot easier to take action for marketing your website for 2012. By taking action, and being patient, I guarantee you’ll see positive results and you won’t look back!

What have you got planned for 2012? Share your ideas below. Leave a comment now.