business info & tools

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Choosing a web designer

Published 18 August, 2011 | By TashWord

Without a good web designer, it’s very hard to get an effective website live to grow your business so here are my top tips in picking a good designer for your business.

make sure you are comfortable with them – if you can’t communicate you’re fighting uphill before you start
look at the designer’s (not the design company’s) portfolio to be sure you like their work – and that they don’t all look like replicas of the same site
check their credentials – do they have relevant training? how much experience do they have?
ask others for feedback – check within your network for previous clients of the designer. And that includes asking your social media networks, too.
make sure you are very clear on what is (and isn’t) included in the price – remember to check details like copyright and licensing on tools
ensure you get full access to your site once it is done – you don’t want to be locked into the designer making every little change on your site moving forward (even if you want them to manage it most of the time, give yourself options)
customer service – if it is questionable during the query/quote phase, do you want to assume they will answer emails quickly when your deadline is approaching?
personal contact – bigger companies may give you an account manager rather than direct contact with a designer. Personally, I find it easier to talk with the designer than let my comments go through a third person and to be sure I get the same designer, but if you relate to the account manager you may be happy with that arrangement.
convenience – is the designer local enough to see them? Or are you comfortable enough to work via email/phone/etc?
price – look at what it includes before comparing it and remember that neither the cheapest nor the most expensive are automatically the best. Freelance sites, in my experience, under pay so I wouldn’t look there for realistic prices or the best designers

From personal experience, I thoroughly recommend Web Graphics By Email (although they are booked out for months) and Shel Design (very professional and accommodating).

This post is part of Word Constructions’ Setting up a website series
1. having a website helps more than you
2. what’s involved in setting up a website?
3. Learn about web hosting
4. Preparing your initial website content
5. Managing website design 101

related content – how do you choose a good writer?

Posted in business info & tools | Tagged choosing designer, copyright, professional, web design | 3 Comments

Managing website design 101

Published 16 August, 2011 | By TashWord

Unless you are a web designer, I strongly recommend you do not design your own website.

Yes, software is fairly easily available to make it possible, but don’t let that fool you into thinking anyone can design a decent (let alone good) website. Website design is more than choosing colours and putting the content on a page with a few links to a shopping cart or a blog. Even a good eye for design may not be enough as websites have specific requirements as well as coding issues.

And doing it yourself isn’t likely to be cheaper either. It may not cost you in terms of paying an invoice, but it will take a lot hours that you can’t invoice for and a low quality result can cost you in customers.

Enough of the negatives, and on to how to manage your design (or redesign)…

know your brand and make the design suit it. Have a sedate and professional brand? Don’t get a young and funky web design as it will clash.
think about what you want on the site in the longer term. You may be happy with five basic pages now with the expectation of adding a blog and forum in six months or so – include those expectations in the design brief so they are easy to add later without needing a new design.
choose your designer carefully – there is a huge array of designers from those who overcharge and under deliver to those who give great results at a value price. We’ll look at this in my next ‘getting your business online’ post, or look at my tips on choosing suppliers
while standing out by being different can be an effective marketing strategy, remember that some differences are a hindrance. For example, putting a menu in a strange place, not underlining hyperlinks and cute or clever alternatives to ‘submit’ and ‘buy’ buttons may confuse people and push them away form your site – colour backgrounds may look nice, too, but if people find the text hard to read the nice colour is hurting your site
put humans first and search engines second – search engine optimisation (SEO) is an important part of attracting people to your site but no one will stay if you haven’t also considered a human’s needs on a website.
keep important information visible and easy to find. For example, if you want people to call you, don’t just have your phone number in the footer – make it prominent high on the page
plan the navigation carefully – this can be the hardest and most time consuming step for you but it is important enough to warrant being done thoroughly. Discuss your plan with your designer, content writer and anyone else involved in the project as their expertise may spot weaknesses
make sure your design complements your other business materials. If I was given your business card or flyer and am interested enough to follow through by typing in a URL, I expect to see something similar when I reach your site. If your site is heading in a new direction, update the supporting materials ASAP
increasingly, people are accessing websites via mobile devices. Sites can be designed to suit mobile devices now so incorporate that into any new site – if you’re going online, you may as well be online for everyone!
be wary of using templates, especially free templates. If the finished product looks like some text placed into a template people have seen 50 times before, your website is not communicating much of benefit (it says cheap, unprofessional, lazy, boring and uninspiring – is that what you want your site to say about your business?) On the other hand, a template adapted to your needs can be effective and cheaper than a custom design – it’s a matter of balance. Make sure you get a template that allows you to change background and font colours, images, header height and the like and, most importantly, lets you decide on the number of menu items showing.
communicate with your designer frequently and honestly. Insist on seeing drafts and giving feedback on what you do and don’t like, and ask questions about why something is done in certain ways – if the designer has a good reason you may be best to leave it alone, but things based on designer preferences can change to your customers’ tastes.
test the site before you approve it – search for relevant information and be sure someone could find it, look at it on different browsers and screens, click on links to be sure they work, and make sure any tools work properly (shopping carts, search boxes, subscription forms, etc)

What other tips do you have for managing the web design of a new site?

Posted in business info & tools, web content | Tagged brand, designer, plan, seo, web design | 6 Comments

Why outsource a manager?

Published 11 August, 2011 | By TashWord

Last week I posted that it is possible to outsource managerial roles as well as specific skill roles. But maybe you’re wondering why someone would outsource a manager so here’s my list of ideas – can you add to it?

you only have to pay for the hours you need them to work – not a set number of hours each week
you may be able to access greater skills within your budget if they are not full time
if they work remotely, it saves you providing space, desk, computer and services for an extra person
it may give you more options such as having a manager in another state may open more face-to-face opportunities for your business as well as local contacts in that state
it can be a good way to trial what roles you need a manager for – you can outsource for 6 months to assess the situation as it is easier to end a short term contract than an employment contract
an outside manager may provide a different perspective and not be as involved in internal issues

Posted in business info & tools | Tagged hours, manager, outsource, perspective | Leave a comment

Outsourcing in between jobs

Published 8 August, 2011 | By TashWord

Not every job or business is suited to outsourcing and using contractors – for various reasons that we won’t go into right now. But what happens if no one is able to do the job in-house for a while?

Recently I did some work for a company while they were searching for a full-time technical writer. Being in the wrong city and unavailable for full-time work, I wasn’t going to apply for the job but I was able to help them while they looked for a new person for the role.

In this case, I set up some procedure templates and introductory documents (including standard emails for the team to use when sending information to the new writer), as well as editing the rough procedures the programmers had written down.

So don’t assume you can’t use outsource a project temporarily while you find the right person to work in-house – hiring an outsider can reduce a lot of the pressure to hire which can result in choosing the first possibility rather than waiting for the right person.

Even if a contractor can’t do the full job, especially if working remotely is an issue, you may find they can help with the following aspects of a role:

preparation work for a new project or role – whether that is to set up the accounts, write the procedures, set up a schedule, organise physical requirements or do some initial research
some mundane aspects of the role, such as data entry, editing existing materials and reviewing older materials are compliant/consistent
doing tasks for other team members so they can cover for the empty position (for example, preapring newsletter content could be outsourced to a writer so the admin manager is free to prepare invoices until a new bookkeeper is appointed)

What else could be outsourced as an interim measure in your business?

Posted in business info & tools | Tagged contractor, in-house, interim, outsource, preparation | Leave a comment

Can you outsource a manager?

Published 4 August, 2011 | By TashWord

The general answer is yes, you can outsource a managerial role but there are some exceptions and industry-specific challenges.

By outsourcing I simply mean having someone take on a managerial role as a contractor rather than an employee. Often this means they work remotely (ie not in the business premises) but that is not always the case.

For example, I do the Communications Manager role (including being listed on an org chart) for some companies who don’t need a full time person – I write their materials and manage the relevant suppliers (designers and printers mostly) from a distance.

Outsourcing a manager role may not be effective in every case of course:

a remote manager will be challenged to oversee staff in many situations
a retail manger needs to be in the shop to deal with customer issues
a production manager would need to be near the production line to ensure it is working and for any problem solving
a senior manager (eg general manager) who is not an employee may be less effective because they are not as invested in the business they are managing

So next time you are considering a full time employee manager, think about whether or not you could outsource that role effectively.

If you have outsourced a managerial role, even on a short term basis, how did it go? Woud you do it again?

Posted in business info & tools | Tagged communications manager, employee, manager, outsource, remote | 5 Comments

Learn about web hosting

Published 3 August, 2011 | By TashWord

A web host offers you some space (memory) on a server that is connected as part of the internet so that anything you put on that space is available over the Net. You must have a host if you want a website people can access, although you can restrict that access on some or all pages if you want.

Where to start… there are a lot of web hosts out there so limit yourself to looking at a small proportion of them and getting a short list for detailed comparisons (see list below for things to consider). Here are some tips on finding some web hosts to look at:

ask around other business people you know for their recommendations (positive or negative) – or use social media contacts for the same question
use a search engine to find some hosts, but narrow the search a little with terms like ‘business web hosting’, ‘australian hosting’ or ‘secure small business hosting’
look for mentions of hosts in your favourite blogs and social media channels
look around your networks (not just business networks) for any hosts you already know
if you belong to a group or support a charity, look at the list of recent supporters as a web host may be been generous
web designers often know web hosts and/or have arrangements with hosts to make it easier – in other words, your designer will set up the hosting for you and install the site as well. This can be convenient but be sure the hosting is accessible to you so you have control after you finish using the designer’s services

Some points to consider about web hosting:

Particular comparison points when choosing a package are number of email addresses included, storage space (how much stuff you can put on their servers), monthly data transfer (relates to how many visitors your site can manage), redirected domains and programs allowed (e.g. you need MySQL for most blogs and a means of gathering your stats).Read up on some terms before making comparisons might make life easier.
make sure the host has a reasonable or better level of security on offer
choose a reputable host with a good package rather than worrying about how local they are
you do not have to register your domain name at the same place as you get your hosting – I have seen a number of places discount one to hook you into the other under the implication you must do both. Likewise, you can arrange your own hosting separate from your designer
seriously look around – there are hosting suppliers who charge an arm and a leg for less than what others provide at reasonable rates
free hosting is on offer but it usually comes with hidden costs such as fewer features and a long, difficult URL – do you want to promote www.someonesdomain.com/yoursite or www.yoursite.com.au? For $60 or so a year, you can have your domain, many features and full control over your site so think twice and twice again before taking any free hosting plans
it’s ok to ask existing clients of a host about their experiences – I did this for digital pacific last year and was given multiple stories of good service and no downtime (i.e. the websites were not offline because of problems with the hosting)
most hosts will allow you to upgrade your package later so start with a low use package to get going and see what you need.

For what it’s worth, I have used MultimediART for some years and had great service but some down time and lack of notices, Digital Pacific with advance notices, no downtime and good service and Jumba with no issues (and no real test of their service). All Australian and priced for value.

This post is part of Word Constructions’ Setting up a website series
1. having a website helps more than you
2. what’s involved in setting up a website?

Posted in business info & tools | Tagged choosing, package, web host, website | 3 Comments

6 steps to getting a website online?

Published 1 August, 2011 | By TashWord

Welcome to the first in a series of posts about getting your business online. Even if you are not yet sure you will start a website, the aim is to give you the information to make an informed decision for your business.

So let’s start with the basics of what you need to do to get a website up – and let’s make it a decent website that your business doesn’t need to be ashamed of! (We could get a website up in about 10 minutes but it may do more harm than good!)

get a domain name – I suggest doing this even if you don’t add a website for some time. Keep the name for your use and you can use it as an email address even if there is no functioning website yet
get a web host – this means you are paying someone for some space on the internet. There are many hosting packages available, covering various features and a huge price range – it is feasible to get hosting for under $100 a year so look around. We’ll cover hosting options later in this series, but I strongly recommend my host, Digital Pacific.
get some information online – you can start with a very simple one-page site that explains who you are and how you cane contacted. You may be happy with that in the medium term, too, but it certainly gets you online while a full site is being developed.
get your site designed – yes that means someone makes it all look nice but it may also mean getting the right programs in place to suit your business needs.
add content to your website – content is critical if you want to get the right message to the right people, and if you want to do well with building your website traffic. Look through my blog for numerous examples of websites let down by poor content – I suggest you plan your content (we’ll cover this during the week, too, but make sure your key pages have great content from the start)
let people know about your website – this is a big ‘task’ and will be ongoing for the life of your site, but there are some simple starting points to action straight away

Does a website seem a little less intimidating when there are only 6 steps? remember that you can (and probably should for many of the steps) get help with the actual implementation of each step.

As a website without a host is pretty hard to manage, the next in this series will be on hosting…

Posted in Business Communications, business info & tools, web content | Tagged content, design, host, start, website | 8 Comments

Having a website helps more than you

Published 29 July, 2011 | By TashWord

A New Zealand study has just shown that businesses with a website are helping their economy – or more to the point, businesses without a website are missing an opportunity to help themselves and their local economy.

So do you have a website?

I’ve written before about the value of a website, and I think it’s importance has only increased with the growth of social media and mobile access and apps, but I hadn’t thought of it as a major factor for a national economy. Results showed businesses with an online presence had significantly more sales and profits – who’s going to argue with increased profits!

As great as it is to grow your business with a website, I found it staggering that 70% of those without a website have no intention of getting one. I understand that not everyone is comfortable with technology (but you can get people to set it up and mange it for you) and time is a big factor for small business (hey, I have four kids and a business!) but a basic online presence is just so important.

Over the next week or so, I will do some posts about how to get your business online to help business owners who are feeling a bit overwhelmed with it all – and to help the Australian economy!

If you have any questions about getting online, now is a great time to ask!

Posted in business info & tools, marketing, web content | Tagged economy, get online, profits, website | 4 Comments

Selecting the ideal guest blogger

Published 28 July, 2011 | By TashWord

Where to start searching?

Inviting someone to be a guest blogger in your blog has advantages for everyone concerned so you may be excited at finding someone to be your guest blogger.

Of course, those advantages disappear if you use a guest blogger who doesn’t work well in your blog and results in you loosing readers and subscribers. So it is important to select guest bloggers carefully.

If you have found a potential guest blogger or been approached by someone wanting to post in your blog, here are my ideas on what you need to consider:

does your guest blogger have some expertise in a relevant field? It may not be the same area as you blog about but it must be related. For example, if you are a car mechanic your guest blogger may be a motorbike mechanic, a panel beater or a car detailer, while a business coach may invite a professional writer, accountant or lawyer to post some business tips from their perspective
can your prospective blogger write well? They don’t have to be Shakespeare but it is important that any posts they write can be easily understood by your readers – and that includes someone who will write without a lot of jargon your readers won’t know. Reading their blog is a good first step in deciding if their writing is appropriate
is the person reliable, as best you can judge? For a one off post this may not matter but if you are promising your readers a guest blog post every week for 4 months, you want to be fairly confident they will deliver
does the person’s style suit your blog? An ideal guest blogger will match their style to your blog (to some extent – it doesn’t have to be identical or it may as well be you posting!) but if they don’t do that you need to be sure their style is acceptable. For example, if they swear in their own blog but you want a family-friendly blog, you need to be sure they will tone down their language

Depending on the arrangement you are putting in place, you also need to be sure you totally trust the guest blogger before you give them any passwords or access to the backend of your blog. There is less risk in getting the posts sent to you and posting them yourself, but it takes time and may defeat the purpose of why you are getting a guest blogger.

Personally, I would want to see some potential guest posts from anyone before I let them post onto my blog, and possibly insist on knowing all topics in advance of them being posted.

Is there anything else you would do to check on a someone before selecting them as your guest blogger?

Posted in blogging, business info & tools | Tagged blogger, guest, ideal, selecting | 3 Comments

Victorian small business info line

Published 28 July, 2011 | By TashWord

Consumer Affairs Victoria has opened a free phone line specifically for small business people.

As a small business in Victoria, you can now get

free information about your rights for products and services that don’t meet your expectations (did you know small businesses have rights to repairs, refunds and replacements like other consumers?)
free information about resolving disputes between businesses
a better understanding of relevant laws
somewhere to report scams aimed at small businesses

You can access the info line by calling 1300 098 631 or emailing small bu******@ju*****.au – or find out more on the CAV website.

If you’ve used this service, what was it like? Did it help you get thins sorted quicker than you could have done by yourself?

Posted in business info & tools | Tagged info line, small business, victoria | Leave a comment

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