I hope you find my writing and business tips and observations useful. My business and blog are dedicated to helping businesses communicate clearly and reach their potential.
Read, subscribe to my newsletter, enjoy!Tash
6 reasons to use a professional
As a business owner or manager, there are always many tasks to do, and often not enough time for them!
Yet many people hesitate in getting outside, professional help for things like writing, design, website updates and bookkeeping; for some, they don’t think they can afford help, others like to maintain complete control, some think it will take longer to find someone than to just do it themselves and another group just wouldn’t know where to start looking for help.
Whatever your reason for putting off getting help, here are my reasons to look and ask for help…
- a professional will do the job well – so might you, of course, but at what cost in time? Sure, I could design a website – it would look horrible and cheap, but it would be done! So for things out of my skill set, it is worth looking for an expert
- it saves you time – even if it only takes you an hour a week to maintain your blog or two hours a month to update your accounts, think what else you could do (and how much money you could earn) in that four to eight hours a month…
- it clears your head as you don’t have to worry about fitting in that task anymore nor the details of how to do it. A clear head lets you be more productive, creative and relaxed
- a professional will probably do it much faster than you – meaning the job will be done and potentially increasing your profits much sooner, especially if you factor in that you would do the task around all your other responsibilities
- a professional may be more objective which can lead to better results. For example, I write very concisely and to the relevant point so often cut out a lot of information the business owner includes because he or she is passionate about the topic
- the professional can offer an outside opinion and fresh ideas. I don’t know how many times designers I have worked with have taken my outline and come up with something perfect and totally unlike what I had envisaged – in fact, I often ask designers for their input rather than giving them rigid briefs
I know it can take time to find the right professionals to work with. I know it may seem out of budget (but factor in time savings and better results and you may be surprised at the affordability). And I know building trust in others to care as much as you can be hard. Yet I believe it is often worth talking to a professional to find out how they could help.
Do you have any stories about an outside professional helping your business?
Have promotional articles seen their day?
On Sunday I wrote about the value of promotional articles, but I thing there is another important question – have they be over used? are they just a waste of time?
My answer – no!
There are certainly a lot of promotional articles available, and many are not worth the time to read (or write!), but for a well prepared article there is definitely a return on the investment of preparing promotional articles.
A couple of reasons promotional articles are still worth considering to promote a business:
- people still want content for sites, ezines and blogs – promotional articles save them time and provide a variety of information for their readers
- things change so there is a need for current articles to replace out dated ones – for example, articles about employing staff in 2010 would not cover paid parental leave responsibilities
- each topic has many angles so even if there are 50 articles on running a business as a parent, you may be able to suggest a different perspective or a new method
- search engines and people want fresh content so even if Joe Blogs wrote a fantastic article on email marketing it could be time someone else wrote one so we don’t read Joe’s article in five different newsletters
- we all have different approaches to learning so the way you explain something in an article may be a better way for some people to understand it
In short, the internet has put us into an information age and there is power to those who provide quality information. Promotional articles are an excellent way to share information so we have not seen the end of their value.
If you’re still doubtful, think about the last time you searched for information online – what were the most useful sources?
promotional articles worth the effort?
Business success is not guaranteed and there is no magic button to push that will get your business moving the way you want it to. Repetition of information and tasks is necessary, regardless of how boring it may seem. I have often heard that if you aren’t doing something then you don’t actually know and understand it – for example, if you drive fast you really don’t understand speed limits and why they exist.
If you have read a lot of my blog and heard me speak then you know I believe in the power of promotional articles. Well, the potential power as many have no idea how to use them properly and therefore fail with them.
What’s so good about promotional articles? In other words, why I do keep writing and talking about them, and giving tips on improving them?
Well here are some of the reasons:
- you only have to write them once and you can get long term traffic to your website – for example, I wrote about chickenpox in 2003 and it is still one of the most popular articles on my site
- you can build your credibility by showing you truly know your topic and are willing to share some of your knowledge – higher credibility means more trust from potential clients
- you can get exposure to new opportunities – I have been approached to do media interviews because reporters have googled a topic and found one of my articles
- using them on your site may mean fewer questions from people – this can save a lot of time from people just after information without ever planning to pay you
- people will share your article (either giving a copy to a friend, linking to it or including it in a newsletter for instance) in a way that an ad would never be shared
- it only costs you to produce it – having it on websites and in newsletters is free. Compare that to paying for an ad to be designed and then to place it anywhere…
- it provides you with website content that search engines will reward you for – again, this equals more traffic
So do you see any value in using promotional articles for your business?
5 tips to support email marketing
Do you use email marketing for your business? Let’s face it, it can be highly effective and relatively cheap so is always worth considering.
No matter how great your email is, though, you need to support it on your website – and this is something many people forget so here are some tips for you:
- use the same branding and style in the email and the web page the email leads to. Sounds obvious but the obvious is often missed when we’re busy and caught in the middle of a project.
- match the message in the email and your website. For example, if your email is about a sale but links to your homepage which doesn’t mention a sale you will find a lot of people will just leave and those remaining will be annoyed at having to search for the information. If you have specific graphics in the email, they should be visible on the site too – or versions of them – so the connection is immediate
- Remember to link to relevant pages, not just your homepage – again, this saves people having to search your site and it can also help your search engine results (especially if a copy of your email is online)
- it is part of your branding, but to be crystal clear on this opint – keep the same tone in the email as on your website. If the friendly, young sounding email attracts someone, a formal, old-fashioned webpage will alienate and confuse them.
- ensure the contact details given in the email are correct and that someone is available to respond to them. An ad in a magazine may result in calls over a period of days or weeks, but the majority of responses to an email will come within hours of sending it out – it’s not a good look if you send out an email inviting calls and no one answers the phone or emails for a few days!
If you looked at your latest email campaign and the related web pages, would you see the connection or would they clash? Try the above tips as a testing process and see if you can’t improve the campaign for next time.
repeat the boring stuff…
Do you get bored with hearing the same stuff a number of times? What do you do about repeated information?
As I wrote a few days ago, some repetition of stuff is necessary to succeed – either because it takes a few goes to really understand it or the timing wasn’t right initially or even just as a reminder that it is still important.
I agree with Jack that looking professional is important – and that includes care with grammar, spelling, effective links and care of details. So I write about those topics quite often, which may seem boring to some I know, but I do try to cover a range of topics within clear and professional communications.
Given the amount of poor writing I come across every day, I see there is a need for a repetition of grammar and spelling tips, too!
If you are good at grammar and spelling – my apoliges for repeating what you already know! But why not take this opportunity to tell me what other topics you would like me to write about?
No magic bullet
Would you like to find a ‘magic bullet’ that will suddenly make your business a success and bring in all the income you hope and plan for? Sounds wonderful doesn’t it but I don’t think it really exists – although you may find various ways to make improvements (especially if you are new to business).
I came across a list of 5 essentials to a healthy business which basically reminds us that we have to repeat the basics, not matter how boring, to make our business succeed.
Have a read and let me know if you agree with Jack’s list .
Use your words wisely!
Is your business well presented?
Last month I wrote about selecting good business partners, so it was interesting to come across an article about presenting your business as a ‘good catch’ – in other words, making your business stand up to the type of close scrutiny to put on others.
So how good a catch do you think your business is? What areas most need some finesse to truly stand out?
Some of the areas I’ve covered in the past include
- written branding
- Content as part of your brand
- consistency of contact details
- branding little details
- choosing a name
- online forms (complaints & feedback)
- style sheets
Business profiles
No matter how descriptive your business name and tag line, not everyone will automatically know what you offer. And some will want to know more details anyway.
One way to explain your business well is to have a business profile.
The profile outlines the main purpose of your business; it will explain that you sell a certain type of product online, or that you serve businesses in certain ways or that you offer households a trade.
A profile can vary in length depending on how you use it, but it is usual to keep them under a page as people don’t want to spend too long reading about you.
Profiles can be written in different styles according to your business style and the particular market the profile is reaching.
What do I do with a profile?
A business profile can be a handy tool and used in a number of ways. Here are a few suggestions for you:
- Send it as an email or fax to people making enquiries about your business. It can even be added to an auto responder
- Send it when you are negotiating with a new supplier or joint venture partner
- A number of network groups and sites will make your profile available for other members to learn about your business
- Use it as an ad or editorial in a newsletter – shortened if necessary
- Attach it to media releases you send out as back up information
- Have it attached to websites where you are a contributor or expert
Online forms are part of your image
Yesterday, I wrote about an online form (on a major company’s website I will add) that only appeared to offer me any choices when filling it in.
It would be nice to say that was the only issue with their form but the whole thing looked unprofessional and inappropriate to me – not something they can be proud of and use to enhance their relationship with me. And let’s face it – if I am making a complaint, they really need to be impressing me to rebuild our relationship if they want me to continue as a customer. Continue reading
Genuine Choices
I have just been to my ip provider’s website to lodge a complaint after 2 days of emails not arriving. Their online complaint form has many fields (too many in my opinion but I’ll let that go!) and most are marked compulsory.
One questions, marked as compulsory to answer is “Would you like ABC to contact you? Yes Email Address”
In other words I have to say yes I want you to contact me in order to submit the form! Why bother asking if I have no choice but to agree to it?
So if you are preparing any sort of form or questionnaire, make sure you give people a choice rather than pretending to give a choice. If you are not going to give them a choice about something, be honest enough to say there is no choice – anything else just makes you look foolish and/or deceitful.
Use your words and questions wisely!
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