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business info & tools

Do you ask too much?

Published 4 July, 2011 | By TashWord

“Never ask your customers to do something that you, yourself, wouldn’t do” GuyKawasaki.

A useful quote to remember when working on your business communications. It may sound really obvious and simple, but I know I have often come across businesses where they do ask more than I am willing to give.

Here are a couple of examples of businesses asking too much of customers:

ask for excessive information in an online form.
I recently waws looking for some quotes and used some online tools to obtain them as part of my descision making. Most sites took the basic information and gave me a price – I knew it may move a little once I gave more details but it was enough for comparisons and to get me started. One site not only asked a lot more questions, they wouldn’t even finish giving me a price without my mobile number so they could SMS me a code to then compete the online form! I don’t want to give out my mobile number so I left their site, never to return.
Lesson – check your forms and check you only ask for relevant information people accept you need for the stated purpsoe of the form
make people search your site for information
Two examples that come to mind here are the business expo site that effectively hid the expo dates and the Government site linking to their own homepage
lesson – put key information in multiple, obvious places and use deep links to make things easy to find
force people to use another medium to get answers
Hard to believe, but I was once in a bank asking for help and was directed to call their customer service line (and they had a phone in the bank for this purpose!) Surely bank staff could help me directly – or have called on my behalf to ensure I got the right answers!
lesson – if someone is dealing with you in one way, keep the interaction that way whenever possible. Certainly don’t send people off to a phone or email program when they are standing in front of you asking for help!

Do you have any examples of being asked too much? How did you respond to those businesses?

Next time you are reviewing your website, brochures and other communications materials, ask yourself if you are asking more of your clients than is reasonable.

Posted in bit off track, business info & tools | Leave a comment

Take a reading…

Published 30 June, 2011 | By TashWord

Tomorrow is the first of July and first of a new financial year.

One task I noted for today was to check my odometer readings so I can finish last year’s care records and start this year’s. Even if you don’t use the car a lot for business, it is still useful to note the readings at this time of year.

What other things do you need to take note of today (or tomorrow) to track your business for marketing and growth purposes, as well as accounting purposes?

Posted in business info & tools | Tagged financial year, measure, odomoter, reading | Leave a comment

So when is it?

Published 28 June, 2011 | By TashWord

I just followed a link to a site about a small business expo/summit to see if it would be of value to me.

The link showed a list of presenters but where and when were more important questions for me. Fair enough, I followed a link so I didn’t go to an introductory page so clicking to another page is reasonable.

Link important information carefully

“Where is event” is in their menu which is fantastic so I now know it is in Sydney.

It took 5 more clicks (including clicking on the “program” link in the menu – the program just lists times on a Wednesday…) before I found it is on July 27. To be fair, I then checked the home page but it isn’t listed there either.

It’s a pity an event supported by big business and with Government speakers can’t make it easy to find critical details on their website, but it’s another lesson for those of us responsible for communicating to clients and prospective clients – identify the key information and make it easy to find.

Making key data easy to find is more than putting in on one page, too – if people enter the site at different pages or read a few pages before looking for the key data, you want them to find it easily too.

So include key data on every page (in a footer or a graphic for example) or have a clear menu item on every page.

What is key data? Well here are some examples:

contact details
location where relevant (don’t assume an online store doesn’t need this as people like to know which country they are ordering from if nothing else)
event details like dates and locations
who you are – a business, organisation or personal name should be prominent
shipping information (for an online store)
terms and conditions (it may not be the first thing I look for, but when I need to know the terms I must be able to find them)

How do you react when a website lacks (or hides, deliberately or by poor thought) key details you are after? And, no, I am not going to that expo (although not entirely because the date was obscured).

Posted in business info & tools | Tagged business, data, date, detail, expo | 2 Comments

Brilliance in contingency planning!

Published 27 June, 2011 | By TashWord

Unfortunately, we have seen many instances supporting contingency planning this year – earthquakes, floods, fires, tsunamis.

Wendy Davie has shared a tip from a Christchurch client which I think is great. Having a disaster kit somewhere accessible but protected could be highly valuable in a natural disaster or other catastrophe, and Mary’s idea of using a wheelie bin is blindingly simple.

I wanted to say I love how we all respond to someone grabbing the obvious as a solution to something. A wheelie bin has obvious advantages for a disaster kits (waterproof, portable, easy to get, affordable) but how many people actually thought to use one like that? I see it as a good reminder to stop over thinking things, maybe step away completely and be a little creative – you never know what you’ll come up with!

While Mary’s idea was about life-saving disaster supplies (water, blankets, first aid, and so on), a similar concept could apply to business, especially businesses in disaster prone areas or at least in areas on high alert. If a disaster occurs during business hours, the same materials will be important (water, first aid kits, batteries, pen & paper) for the safety and comfort of you and your team. But, as a business, you may include a few extras such as a list of contacts (including contacts for all employees and their families), a copy of your contingency plan and checklists and weekly back up discs (if your kit is secure enough).

What’s your ‘wheelie bin’ idea for contingency planning?

Posted in bit off track, business info & tools | Tagged contingency, creative, disaster kit, wheelie bin | 2 Comments

Finding a guest blogger to suit you

Published 24 June, 2011 | By TashWord

Having a guest blogger write in your blog has advantages for you and your readers, but how do you find the right person to do some guest posts for you?

You may be lucky and have someone offer to do some guest posts for you when you are ready for them, but if you want a guest blogger without any leads for one, here are ideas for finding a guest blogger:

do a blog post announcing you are looking for a guest blogger! If you want to be a little more subtle, add this information to your about us page or your blog policies
do some research on your regular commenters – those that contribute constructive comments may well be suitable to do some guest posts for you. In fact, their comments may inspire the guest blogging idea so they can expend on something useful they have written as a comment
look at your suppliers – do any of them have a blog that showcases valuable information for your audience? If so, ask them for some guest posts – they get increased exposure and they are helping a client (you!) so are likely to be agreeable
ask for guest bloggers through networks (both real life networks, online forums and social media) but be aware that you may get a lot of responses and not all will be of value
look at your favourite blogs – would any of those people have anything to say that is relevant to your blog audience? You already know they can write blog posts that attract readers!
do a search (in a search engine or through a blog directory of some sort) of blogs in your industry
ask any of your suppliers if they know of anyone who could provide relevant expertise – if they supply you there’s a good chance they’ll supply related businesses
advertise in unusual places and see who responds. For example, if you run a blog on parenting or helping children with homework, put an ad in a school newsletter as you will reach many parents

Good luck – and let me know which of these ideas worked for you in finding a guest blogger for your blog.

Posted in blogging, business info & tools | Tagged blogger, find, guest | 2 Comments

Decluttering your blog

Published 18 June, 2011 | By TashWord

Last week I found a blog post I just have to share – Skelliewag gives 50 tips for decluttering your blog (yes he posted this list a while ago, but it still applies as far as I’m concerned!)

He raises some great points, such as not including stats (as you rather than your readers care about them) and irrelevant social media conversations in your side bar. And I love his suggestion of having a traditional links page if you really want to list a lot of blogs somewhere.

Why declutter a blog?

Having less stuff around your writing gives more white space and less visual distraction – maybe I’m biassed, but I think that is better for highlighting your content. I do think about where to put things on my blog and avoid having too many plugins, but I hadn’t thought of decluttering like this before reading Skelliewag’s post.

One interesting point was to have a categories/tags cloud OR a categories/tags list – not both. I think that both is excess information, especially if you want to declutter and have more clear space around your blog. Personally, I would choose the list because it takes less space and is visually less cluttered than the cloud. On top of that, the cloud is based on bigger text on most popular words/phrases meaning that those words will give you a long list of posts to search through if trying to find something specific. Have you ever clicked on one of those clouds to find anything anyway? I know I haven’t (in fact I actively ignore them, but that’s just me!)

And I like the logic of getting rid of any advertising that doesn’t really pay well – it is nicer for readers to see fewer ads and does make the remaining ones more effective. I find a lot of ads in a blog distracting and prefer to see a clean page focussed on the content, so it makes sense to me to use fewer ads.

Most of his points already apply to my blog, phew! I will review the rest of his list and make decisions on whether to keep or lose some details. So if you think my blog is too cluttered or want something removed, now is the time to tell me!

* Images courtesy of Dysprosia and WikimediaCommons

Posted in blogging, business info & tools | Tagged blog, clear, declutter, space | Leave a comment

Be professional with the little things…

Published 17 June, 2011 | By TashWord

It amazes me sometimes how people ignore some of the little details that are so easy to deal with.

I read recently that someone would never take advice from a financial planner who can’t afford a quality tie (bad taste is a different issue, of course!) My equivalent statement is that I would never hire someone for SEO help/advice or other digital services (social media marketing, web design, ecommerce, etc) if they can’t be bothered setting up a non-hotmail, non-yahoo email address – Gmail and IP provider emails are not really any better.

The blog I looked at yesterday came to my attention by the owner asking for guest blog posts. He provided a domain name and his Hotmail details. Why on earth doesn’t he have an email based at that domain name? Especially for someone claiming to know about SEO?

This is a pet peeve, but there are some valid reasons to use a domain-related email address:

it builds trust to use your domain name – you have taken the time to get a domain name and matching emails so expect to be in business for more than five minutes
it looks professional
Hotmail does not build credibility – many people use Hotmail as untraceable email addresses so it is not always seen as reputable. Have you noticed a number of places won’t accept a Hotmail address when you register?
every time someone receives your email, you can promote Hotmail/Gmail/your ip provider or you can use your domain name and promote your business. No brainer to me
it shows you pay attention to the little details in your business so probably care about your products/services
it gives consistency, especially when you list your contact details in one place like on a business card or the end of an email
you don’t have to change your email address if you change ip providers or the email service stops (or changes rules in a way you don’t like)

Posted in Business Communications, business info & tools | Tagged domain, email, professional, trust | 3 Comments

Spending on your content made easier

Published 14 June, 2011 | By TashWord

Believe it or not, we’re almost half way through 2011 and the Australian (and others) financial year is about to end.

As you may be reviewing budgets now or planning ahead for a great 2012, I am offering everyone who reads my blog a 5% discount for any business writing project booked between now and 30 June (for completion by 1 August 2011).

This could be for a series of blog posts, updating your ‘about us’ page or ghost writing your eBook through to project managing your annual report. Simply email me with details of your project and mention you read this offer on my blog. Or leave a comment and I’ll email you from that.

Consider this my end of year sale and my gift to your business planning for 2012.

Posted in About Word Constructions, business info & tools | Tagged discount, planning, writing | Leave a comment

A manual by any other name…

Published 14 June, 2011 | By TashWord

It’s an officious sounding word for many people, and certainly a daunting prospect if you have to write or update the manual for your business. So much so, that people often avoid having a procedures or operations manual or just call it something less intimidating.

Which raises the first question – what is a manual?

Really it is just a collection of ideas and instructions to help operate something efficiently. It may be boring to read the manual that came with your new iPod, phone or TV but it is very handy when you can’t figure out how to set it up or use the advanced features.

Manuals range from a few pages long to hundreds and even thousands of pages long, depending on the purpose of the manual. Obviously the manual to run a multi-million dollar business will be longer than the manual for your home printer, but the concept is the same.

Here are a few tips to make the concept of a manual less intimidating in your business:

call it something other than a manual if the name has negative associations for you – options include guidelines, procedures, rules, ‘helpful information’, policies and the ‘how to book’
make sure to write it (or get it written) in simple terms so it’s easy to understand
present it in an accessible way – a heavy folder stored on a high shelf will be ignored but a shared computer file on your intranet is much easier to use
divide the manual into usable chunks – much better to have a long index than instructions that go for pages and cover many tasks

If you are starting a new manual from scratch, you have the advantage of making it friendly from the start, and preparing procedures and style guides doesn’t have to be frightening either!

Thinking about manuals you’ve had to use in the past, what were some of the big issues with them?

Posted in Business Communications, business info & tools, writing | Tagged instructions, manual, name, procedures | 2 Comments

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