Off to Bolton today for a client mtg. Posting this from a cold platform at Bare Lane train station. Ok I could have driven but I hate motorway driving. Plus I can catch up on some reading on the train. At just over £12 return it is maybe cheaper too.
Small firms should ‘increase their web presence’
I guess articles like this are good for us web designers. Small businesses all over the country (and the world) will read this - how many will then go on to follow the advice?
BUT STOP.
Before you, as an SME business owner/manager/whatever, pick up that phone or tap on that keyboard you need to consider a few things…
There are many website design companies out there waiting to take your money. Find one that’s the right fit for your and your business. One that will consider you and your clients rather than the latest fad in web design. One that will guide you and walk with you rather than lead you.
Contact me if you want, but also contact others. Don’t go with your friend’s nephew because he will do you a favour - go with your friend’s nephew because he produces good work and listens to your concerns and answers your questions.
Aiming at new start-ups (SMEs) I am creating a workshop that will take them from the thought “Hey, I could do with a website” to “Look everyone, I have a website”.
Often business owners think that getting a website is just a matter of finding a good website designer and telling them they want a website. But there are lots of things to think about even before you contact a web designer. That’s what this course is aimed at - helping business owners make good decisions and explaining just what is involved in getting your business on the World Wide Web. It’s not a techie workshop, it’s just plain common sense and relevant hints & tips.
If you like the sound of this workshop and you know people who would benefit then do contact me…
Obviously I don’t want to be building sandcastles for my business, I want something more substantial that will not collapse with the first wave or adversity. My ‘castle’ is my business and I want to add at least another storey to it this year.
I have some ideas about what I want to do and I am using Microsoft’s OneNote to keep my ideas in order. Here are my plans -
Using OneNote I am breaking each one down into short-term goals and brainstorming ways to achieve them.Some I have deliberately under-set so I don’t get over-whelmed but all are SMART. There is one other achievement I am aiming for but I am too shy to express it just yet.
What goals have you set for 2010 and how are you planning to achieve them?
I am currently making contact with other local businesses; naturally I am looking for paid work but also trying to build a network where people can turn to each other for help and advice.
To that end I am sending out a letter & flyer to introduce myself. There’s no selling as such within this letter which may look odd and not be ‘good business practice’ but I dislike pushing myself to strangers without building even a tenuous relationship first.
Do you think this is a good idea? What do you do to create relationships?
It’s a new year and everyone talks about new beginnings - should I be any different? Well, I feel that 2010 should be more of a continuation of what I have been building for over a year now.
I want to continue to
This first working week of the year has been unusual in that the children, having had 2 days at school, are home now due to the snow and ice and will be home for at least another day. While it doesn’t stop me working it means I do change my working environment from the home office to the living room so that I am on hand easier if they need me.
I am also counting (again) the benefits of working from home. I know several people who have not been able to get to work in this unusually bad weather despite the best will in the world. For some reason Lancashire County Council haven’t gritted residential areas - not even those on a dangerous incline. I certainly would not try to get out of my road unless it was urgent. However, my commute is one minute from the house to the office and so it was off to work despite the snow 
I have done a certain amount of sorting and de-cluttering over the last few days and have spent today catching up on reading matter (.Net, blogs, downloaded docs etc). I also have been looking at ways to help potential and current customers. Some things are still ‘in development’ but I have added another pdf link to help with the design process - checkout Low-tech Website to have a look.
There is also a fresh offer for the new year - 1 YEAR FREE website hosting (through Bay Web Designs) for every new website I create. This offer will be available through to mid-February at least. Contact me to take advantage.
I do hope everyone had a wonderful time over the holidays - let me know what you are doing to succeed this year.
*MMX is roman numerals for 2010
Being a new business I have been kindly supplied with free government funded advice over the last year or so. I recently went to a meeting with a new advisor and one suggestion he made was to use ‘we’ instead of ‘I’ on my website.
Now, to me, using ‘we’ infers that there is more than one person working at Bay Web Designs whereas I know there’s only me. Therefore I feel that it is a deception to potential clients who visit my website. The suggestion was then made to ‘depersonalise’ by using third person in my content. I did not really want to do this because I wish to emphasise the personal attention my clients get when they come to my company.
My question here is - am I wrong to follow this advice? Is it business naivete to ignore these suggestions? What’s your opinion?
It’s coming up to that special day when Santa delivers gifts - he knows who’s been naughty and who’s been nice you know.
Anyway, in the spirit of giving and sharing I thought I would offer a deal to clients (old & new). So, through to the end of December 2009, I am offering 1/3 off the price of a 5-page static web site. If you were considering getting your business or group on the internet now’s the time - contact me for more details.
If a static web site isn’t quite what you were looking for then still drop me an email or give me a call. I am sure I could find a way to include you in the Christmas spirit too.
‘P’ for ‘procrastination’.
I have always been a bit of a procrastinator - I always seem to work better with the pressure of a deadline looming, no matter how well prepared I intend to be. Throughout college I would get my assignments, read, prepare, map out a plan of action but two days before would still find me typing furiously to get the essay completed. May I say in my defence, I never missed a submission date even when my daughter was in and out of hospital and I got good grades.
Anyway, I know this failing of mine and I do try to overcome it but sometimes it creeps up and whispers in my ear encouraging me to do something else; anything but that which I should be doing.
Recently it’s been different. I am not too busy with clients at the moment and have had a list of ‘to-dos’ hanging around my desk for weeks waiting for this lull. Guess what, they were still waiting - until a few days ago. Over the last week I have crossed around a third off that darned list and today saw me getting on with a few more.
So here’s a few things I have banned to the ‘completed’ file :-
Thanks to John O’Nolan for writing an article on what he’s achieved and so giving me a boost to getting on myself.
Targets for the next few weeks :-
Can you admit to any failings? Are they holding you back from achieving what you want? How do you intend to overcome them?
I recently received a lovely email from Chris Abram who I worked with to get "The Erics" website up and running for an amateur international video competition.
Now I don’t often like to blow my own trumpet but I feel that if I don’t tell people some of the nice things he said I would be not only wasting a good opportunity for self- marketing but also not giving Chris the appreciation he deserved for taking the trouble to write to me.
I trawled the internet and found some local companies, but none of them seemed to appreciate that we are a local amateur video club and not the wealthy BBC. Eventually I came across Sharon’s name on the internet and immediately telephoned her. That was one of the best moves that I have made for several years.
…within a couple of days I was getting a request for photographs to liven the site up, and shortly after that the first draft magically appeared on my computer. Obviously there were one or two things needing adjustment, and I thought that we needed to include other site links, but in no time at all we had our finished website.
The impact that our website has had in the world of amateur film making has been enormous. Few clubs having anything as upmarket as our "Erics" competition website, and that is all due to the creativity of Sharon Jackson. She has made some excellent creative suggestions, helped those of us lesser mortals who know little about preparing websites and over the last few weeks made any additions and alterations very promptly indeed.
I was thrilled to receive such a kind letter from Chris; especially of these words
We are truly proud of what Sharon produced for our video club.
You can read the full text of the letter -
here in MS Word or here in PDF