Posts Tagged ‘business’

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Gift certificate for business services?

Monday, April 18th, 2011

Leading up to friend’s birthdays and Christmas, gift certificates for product-based stores and personal services (eg a massage or facial) are often considered as a convenient gift the recipient can redeem for whatever they want.

There is also value for the business giving out gift certificates – quiet promotions, value add, follow on sales and cash flow in particular.

So would you give a business service gift certificate?

Here are a couple of situations where I think it could work:

1. a friend has just started their business and is overwhelmed with the things to do’ so you give a voucher for a VA’s services

2. as a web designer you know there is more than good design required for success so with all projects above $x you give a gift certificate to a professional writer to kick things off

3. instead of giving a bottle of wine or box of chocolates, a business gives out vouchers for a business service to enhance clients’ business. Obviously they need to be complementary businesses with a similar market so a business coach could give out vouchers for bookkeeping, a designer could give a voucher for a printer and a writer could give gift certificates from an IT support business.

4. you want to give a friend/client the means of improving something about their business, just because you like them or you can see their business really needs the help

5. it is the anniversary of your business relationship or someone starting their business so acknowledging that with something that will further their business (rather than a hamper or bunch of flowers) gives more meaning to your gesture

Have you ever thought of giving a gift voucher for a professional service? If you’ve done it, how did it go?

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Posted in business info, marketing | No Comments »

Superannuation increases?

Friday, April 8th, 2011

There is a move to increase the basic super contribution rate for employers on behalf of their employees, taking it from 9% to 12% (in a few increments).

The Australian Insitute of Superannuation Trustees, AIST, (and others I believe) have an online petition to show the Government the concept has the support of the general population.

Do you support it?

Maybe you haven’t even thought about it so here are a couple of my ideas on the topic:

  • an extra 3% of your salary each year has to give you a better chance of financial security in retirement so who would argue with getting it? (more…)

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Posted in bit off track, business info | 3 Comments »

Maximising topics

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

Last week, I aprticipated in Blog Action Day(BAD09) with over 13,000 other bloggers – we all posted on the topic of climate change in order to make everyone aware of this important topic.

While everyone wrote about climate change as the theme, there were many different angles covered – for example, I listed green decisions for my business to inspire other businesses to fight climate change and I read posts about conserving water, marketing, using local foods, some affects of climate change (affects on western society caused by direct climate changes) and things we can do to stop climate change.

This made me think about using a limited topic can provide many blog posts and/or articles – as well as about climate change of course!

Even if you limited yourself to business related aspects of climate change, there were many different ways you could have participated in BAD09. Here are just some of the business angles to show what I mean:

  • tips of how to reduce a business’ impact around the office
  • discussion of how manufacturing businesses can reduce their emissions
  • discussion of how business can contribute to the solution
  • opinions on carbon pricing and how it will impact small businesses
  • list some business ideas that will help the planet
  • low impact marketing ideas
  • how climate change has impacted on a particular business or industry – or is likely to in the next decade or half century
  • discussion on political and social factors affecting how a business can implement greener processes

So next time you are looking for something to write about to promote your business, look back at old or obvious topics within your business and see if there is a different angle you can discuss – there usually is!

Not only does discussing different angles give you more blog posts/articles, it also:

  • gives you the opportunity to share more of your expertise in a niche subject
  • lets people read about different aspects and therefore be more informed
  • gives people who may use your article (e.g. website owners and other bloggers) more choice about what angle of the topic to use and that increases the chances or your article being read
  • demonstrates your knowledge and that you have more than one dimension
  • enables you to link between posts more easily

Use your words wisely, and your topics thoroughly!

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Posted in blogging, newsletter content, web content, writing | 2 Comments »

Building trust

Saturday, July 18th, 2009

One of the reasons I give for writing promotional articles and blog posts is build trust in the community and your (potential) clients. By sharing relevant information, people can trust your expertise and learn about your personality and integrity.

In the current global situation, building trust may be even more important.

The Edelman Trust Barometer for Australia is a survey of consumers and how they feel about various institutions. In February this year, they noted a huge 74% decline in trust for business – only 34% of respondents trust a business to do what is right in a specific situation.

What is critical to learn from this survey is the following:

  • 87% of Australians will  not buy from a company they don’t trust
  • 64% of Australians will pay extra to use a company they do trust
  • Australians prefer Australian-owned companies to foreign owned companies as a general rule (obviously that changes in specific situations if the Australian company isn’t trusted)
  • corporate advertising is trusted by only 6% of Australians – and corporate websites by only 13%

Some other interesting notes:

  • people between 25 and 34 years are twice as likely to share experiences of a company than older respondents
  • treating employees well is important – even more important than an environmental commitment – in building trust

As for the survey, it was based on “4,475 upper-income, highly-educated people in 20 countries, including 1,375 in Asia-Pacific countries.”

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Posted in business info | 7 Comments »

Keywords in promotional articles

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

On Sunday, I presented a workshop on using promotional articles as a business tool and discussed the use of keywords in such articles.

Keywords are words that a search engine will use to provide search results (e.g. if you type in “promotional articles”, they are the keywords and a search engine will find the sites most relevant for those words.) They are very useful in building up the popularity of your site with search engines.

So it is a good idea to include your keywords in your promotional articles so search engines will find your articles online and increase your exposure. In terms of attracting search engines, putting keywords into the title is also effective.

In reality, you probably use keywords in your articles without really trying – it isn’t easy to write an article about business books without writing business or books for example.

However, it is important to not use your keywords too many times in one article as search engines can actually penalise you for doing so. The easiest way to judge how many times is right is to read it out loud – if it sounds ok and appeals to a human, you probably haven’t over used the keywords.

I will share some examples tomorrow on overuse of keywords, but thanks to Suzie of Suz’s Space asking a question in my  workshop, let me explain that it is repetition of one or two words that is the potential problem – using a lot of different keywords in a suitable context is not a search engine risk.

For example, writing an article about a style of writing which includes a list of authors does have a lot of keywords (each name for instance) but is not over using the keywords (such as books and authors) for Suzie’s site.

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Posted in newsletter content, web content, writing | 3 Comments »

Recharge your business with promotional articles

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009

I will be presenting the above topic at the Business Mums Conference on 20/21 June in Melbourne. I will be covering ways to help people get the most value out of the promotional articles they write (or pay to get written) as I believe it is a valuable, low cost way to promote any business.

What is a promotional article?

Any useful article can be used as a promotional article, although they tend to be around 300-600 words long. At the end of the article, you include an information section (called a bio box or resource box) about yourself and/or your business.

To be a good promotion for your business, it is best to use topics that build your credibility in your industry. For example, if you are a hairdresser you could use articles about choosing shampoos, the best types of hair accessories and hair care tips, but if you sell children’s party accessories, you would be better using articles about how to plan a birthday party, dealing with invitation lists and party game suggestions.

Note that a promotional article is not an ad. An article about the services you offer or how you are better than a competitor is not a promotional article – it is an ad. The aim of your article is to provide information, and/or entertainment, to readers.

** If you are going to the conference, please come and chat to me – I’ll be there all weekend as I know from experience that is a positive, information pack weekend that will benefit my business.

If you havent bought tickets yet, Save Time Online is offering an advertising bonus if you mention them when booking.

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Posted in About Word Constructions, blogging, newsletter content, web content, writing | 2 Comments »

How reliant is your business?

Friday, June 5th, 2009

As a sole trader, especially in the early part of a business and in a service based business, it is common for the owner to be critical to business operations. Without the owner, the business stagnates or slides backwards.

There are a number of consequences to this reliance, and all of them can impact on the long term success of the business.

1. the owner gets stressed and exhausted as they can’t afford to take a holiday or even a long weekend, and are likely to work when sick and/or recovering

2. something unexpected happens to the owner (e.g. a car accident, appendicitis, a premature birth, a critically ill loved one) and no one else is able to run the business so the business fails before the owner gets back

3. things are done by habit – there is no opportunity for new ideas or better methods, old errors get repeated, the owner can get bored and the business doesn’t grow as much as it could

In larger businesses, the same reliance can occur if people have very strictly defined roles. For instance, if only one person can access the bank account what happens to outstanding invoices while that person is seriously ill for two months? Or if that person was the only one who could update prices on your website, or operate the cash register, or prepare quotes

So how reliant is your business on one or two key people? What critical tasks need to carry on in the absence of that person(s)?

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Posted in business info | No Comments »

Protecting the essential

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

Last week I wrote about identifying the essential aspects of your business as one step in contingency planning. Obviously, the next thing is to protect those aspects as much as possible…

I see there are two distinct ways to protect essential details – find ways to prevent those details being hurt or destroyed and find ways to stop the business being so reliant on those details.

Each aspect of your business may require very different techniques for protection against damage, but the idea is to reduce the risk of a problem and then reduce the length of time before it is operational again.

Here are some examples of how to protect some aspects of your business – and you can use these even if they don’t count as essential aspects of your business:

  • provide a safe working environment for yourself and staff – it may sound simple, but imagine a masseur or carpenter falling over a loose cord and breaking their arm …
  • isolate people during health issues – for instance, swine flu can’t spread  if those with the disease are not near everyone else. This can mean sick people don’t come to work or you arrange for remote access for sick people and/or essential staff
  • have computer back up systems in place – and store the data off site. We use carbonite as it regualrly backs up for us and we can reclaim work easily at any time, even after human errors rather than major problems
  • make sure your equipment is serviced and cleaned frequently
  • instal security alarms, locks and so on to protect against theft
  • ensure smoke and fire alarms are working and placed appropriately – smoke alarms above a stove going off all the time tend to be ignored so move them
  • purchase a fire proof safe to store precious documents, data and equipment
  • establish rules to minimise damage of fragile and essential items – for instance, only fully licensed drivers do deliveries, store fragile items out of walkways and on stable surfaces
  • research details for a back up web host in case you need to swap in a hurry (for example their servers were damaged in a natural disaster and your site would be down for weeks)
  • have a spare computer and monitor available to use if necessary – it doesn’t have to be as good as your usual computer as long as it can cope with the basic and essential requirements
  • know where you can hire replacement equipment if need be, and keep those details somewhere accessible

What other ways have you protected your essential business assets?

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Posted in business info | 2 Comments »

Small business tax break

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

The 50% tax deduction for small businesses (turnover under $2 million) announced in the Federal Budget has now been given royal assent so it is law. That means, eligible purchases over $1,000 can be added to your tax return as a 50% deduction.

Note that this is a bonus as you can still claim any depreciation and deductions you would otherwise be entitled to.

So if a purchase was already something you had planned this year (the deadline is 31 December 2009) it’s great news; if a purchase was a possibility or planned for early next year, considering buying it now is now more affordable. However, if cashflow is a problem and/or you don’t really need any $1,000 purchases, forget the tax break and spend your money elsewhere!

Is this tax deduction affecting your spending?

I am about ready to upgrade my computer so this tax break could be well timed for me – yes I could buy a computer for under $1,000 anyway but I want reliability, a large screen and various features (such as mobility, i.e. a laptop) that will make life easier for me.

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Posted in business info | 1 Comment »

What’s essential?

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

With the bushfires and floods, the global financial crisis and swine flu, every business should be thinking about having contingency plans in place. I gave some tips on preparing for a distruption to your business and being prepared, but real contingency planning requires even more effort.

A key step in ensuring your business can survive a major issue is understanding what is essential. Protecting and replacing the essential is what helps you survive – other things may be important  but are of little use if the essential factors are missing.

For example, it is important to have the Word Constructions website online but it is essential that I have a computer and software for preparing documents (yes, I can write with pen and paper but it isn’t very professional to hand that to a client!)

So what is essential in your business? Think about the essential equipment, skills, people, services and resources you rely on.

Imagine a dentist’s surgery without a dentist, an engineering firm with no engineers, a dressmaker business with no sewing machine, a hairdresser with no scissors and a referral agency missing its directories.

Make a list of what is essential for your business, and perhaps a second list of what is very important but non-essential.

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Posted in business info | 4 Comments »

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