- Original Poster
- #1
After knocking about the forums for a while, I have decided to compile some of the knowledge I have gained. Sorry they are not in much of an order. If you disagree with any of them, please state. And feel free to add your own.
General Business Tips
1) Logos should be simple. A good logo can be drawn on a peice of paper from mind in about 15 seconds.
2) Plan, Plan, Plan and Plan some more. A lot of business jump striaght into a market. This is a fatal mistake that leads to the failure of so many business. Before you commit, ask yourself do you know the exact market that you are targeting? Does this fit into your business and marketing plan?
3) Do not try to go it alone. There is a wealth of resources available to business owners. Speak to your local Chamber of Commerce and visit websites such as www.businesslink.co.uk for fantastic advice.
4) Focus on the parts of your business that you can control. It would be ineffective to worry about external vairables outside your business all day. Instead focus on the parts of your business that you can change and adapt to change.
5) Include your businesses name, logo and contact details on all your business documents. This will help to build brand recognition.
6) Always have business cards. A lot of business do not bother with business cards. This is a mistake that could lead to a loss of business or a loss of a valuable contact.
7) Think about your business legal structure. Would you benefit from becoming a LTD company? Speak to an accountant to see how operating in different structures would benefit your business.
8) Tell as many people as possible about your business. Friends, family, neighbours, everyone. Word of mouth marketing is invaluable.
9) Encourage customers to give testamonials, and display them in a predominant place on your website.
10) Contraversial one maybe - Never make a business out of a hobby. In business you will need times where you take time out and relax. If you have taken away that hobby it can become demotivating. Would be interesting to hear your thoughts on this one.
Writing and Distributing a Press Release - This section was inspired by the writing of Paul Green from www.publicityheaven.com
1) KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid. Press releases should be easy to read and to understand exactly what the story is saying.
2) Write a catchy headline without plugging your business; there will be plenty of time to plug later.
3) State on the press release when you wish it to be published. If it is to be published straight away, write for immediate publishing.
4) In the press release you should answer the following questions. Who? What? When? Where? and Why?
5) At the foot of the press release type ## End ##
6) If your release goes over a page type ##More Follows## at the foot of the page.
7) Position yourself as an expert in your market. This is the key to receving lots of free publicity for your business. Journalists will come to you for advice and stories if they know that you are an expert.
8) Send your press releases to as many relevant journalists as possible. www.mediauk.com has a brilliant list.
9) Prepare for potential interviews with the media. However, avoid preparing word-for-word answers.
10) Sign up to the free weekly tips from Publicity Heaven, they really are good. Just to state I have no connections with Paul Green I just admire his skills. http://www.publicityheaven.com/free-stuff/free-weekly-email-newsletter/
SEO
1) NEVER use frames when designing a website
2) Submit your website to DMOZ only once. It will take time to be listed, however if you submit it repeatedly it will never be listed.
3) Do not buy links from link farms. Generally they are unethical and will be punished by search engines.
4) Ensure that you have suitable <Title> tags for each page. Either different for each page of the same throughout the website.
5) Scatter your keywords throughout your content, but avoid over using.
6) Use the Google keyword analysis tool. https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
7) Use PPC effectively. Read up on the topic before committing to PPC financially.
8) "For £25 we can get you to Number1 in Google and submit you to 30,000,000,000 search engines". No you cannot. Do not waste money on these schemes, they will only get you banned from Google.
9) Try to purchase a domain name with your chosen keywords in it.
10) Include a XHTML sitemap of your website.
Web Design
1) Avoid using Flash. HTML, CSS and XHTML all rank better within search engines.
2) Keep your website clean. Nothing is more annoying for customers than having to navigate around a difficult website to find one product or peice of information.
3) Include contact details somewhere on the website, the more the better.
4) Test your website in as many different browsers as possible. How a website is viewed in IE will be different to how it is viewed in Safari and Firefox etc.
5) Validate your website with W3C - http://validator.w3.org/
6) Know your audience when you are designing your website. Think about who your customers are and design the website around that.
7) Update content regularly to enourage repeat visiting.
8) Avoid filling your pages with reams and reams of text. People do not sit and read through websites, the skim them.
9) Spell check your website!!! Such an obvious one, yet it is overlooked time and time again.
10) Avoid large images. They are slow to load and therefore are throwned upon by search engines.
Social Networking and Blogging
1) Submit your website to Gumtree - http://www.gumtree.com/
2) Google loves Wordpress. Use Wordpress to develop your business blog.
3) Update your blog 3 times a week with interesting, unique content.
4) Include your websites key words within these blog posts; both in the title and in the body of the text.
5) Join networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpce and link to these in your website.
6) However, first think about your target market. If you are selling a product aimed at older consumers it would be ineffective to spend a lot of time marketing the product on MySpace which is a network for predominantly 14-16 year olds.
7) Submit your website to StumbleUpon - http://www.stumbleupon.com/
8) Include an add to favourites button on your website.
9) Post on forums that operate within your market. If you can, get a link to your website within your signiture.
10) Instead of adding 1,000,000 fans to your Facebook group, focus on your target market and therefore increase your efficiency.
Thank you for reading and part two will be coming soon after my fingers have recovered from all this typing. Would love to hear your thoughts and for you to add your own tips.
Cheers,
Danny.
General Business Tips
1) Logos should be simple. A good logo can be drawn on a peice of paper from mind in about 15 seconds.
2) Plan, Plan, Plan and Plan some more. A lot of business jump striaght into a market. This is a fatal mistake that leads to the failure of so many business. Before you commit, ask yourself do you know the exact market that you are targeting? Does this fit into your business and marketing plan?
3) Do not try to go it alone. There is a wealth of resources available to business owners. Speak to your local Chamber of Commerce and visit websites such as www.businesslink.co.uk for fantastic advice.
4) Focus on the parts of your business that you can control. It would be ineffective to worry about external vairables outside your business all day. Instead focus on the parts of your business that you can change and adapt to change.
5) Include your businesses name, logo and contact details on all your business documents. This will help to build brand recognition.
6) Always have business cards. A lot of business do not bother with business cards. This is a mistake that could lead to a loss of business or a loss of a valuable contact.
7) Think about your business legal structure. Would you benefit from becoming a LTD company? Speak to an accountant to see how operating in different structures would benefit your business.
8) Tell as many people as possible about your business. Friends, family, neighbours, everyone. Word of mouth marketing is invaluable.
9) Encourage customers to give testamonials, and display them in a predominant place on your website.
10) Contraversial one maybe - Never make a business out of a hobby. In business you will need times where you take time out and relax. If you have taken away that hobby it can become demotivating. Would be interesting to hear your thoughts on this one.
Writing and Distributing a Press Release - This section was inspired by the writing of Paul Green from www.publicityheaven.com
1) KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid. Press releases should be easy to read and to understand exactly what the story is saying.
2) Write a catchy headline without plugging your business; there will be plenty of time to plug later.
3) State on the press release when you wish it to be published. If it is to be published straight away, write for immediate publishing.
4) In the press release you should answer the following questions. Who? What? When? Where? and Why?
5) At the foot of the press release type ## End ##
6) If your release goes over a page type ##More Follows## at the foot of the page.
7) Position yourself as an expert in your market. This is the key to receving lots of free publicity for your business. Journalists will come to you for advice and stories if they know that you are an expert.
8) Send your press releases to as many relevant journalists as possible. www.mediauk.com has a brilliant list.
9) Prepare for potential interviews with the media. However, avoid preparing word-for-word answers.
10) Sign up to the free weekly tips from Publicity Heaven, they really are good. Just to state I have no connections with Paul Green I just admire his skills. http://www.publicityheaven.com/free-stuff/free-weekly-email-newsletter/
SEO
1) NEVER use frames when designing a website
2) Submit your website to DMOZ only once. It will take time to be listed, however if you submit it repeatedly it will never be listed.
3) Do not buy links from link farms. Generally they are unethical and will be punished by search engines.
4) Ensure that you have suitable <Title> tags for each page. Either different for each page of the same throughout the website.
5) Scatter your keywords throughout your content, but avoid over using.
6) Use the Google keyword analysis tool. https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
7) Use PPC effectively. Read up on the topic before committing to PPC financially.
8) "For £25 we can get you to Number1 in Google and submit you to 30,000,000,000 search engines". No you cannot. Do not waste money on these schemes, they will only get you banned from Google.
9) Try to purchase a domain name with your chosen keywords in it.
10) Include a XHTML sitemap of your website.
Web Design
1) Avoid using Flash. HTML, CSS and XHTML all rank better within search engines.
2) Keep your website clean. Nothing is more annoying for customers than having to navigate around a difficult website to find one product or peice of information.
3) Include contact details somewhere on the website, the more the better.
4) Test your website in as many different browsers as possible. How a website is viewed in IE will be different to how it is viewed in Safari and Firefox etc.
5) Validate your website with W3C - http://validator.w3.org/
6) Know your audience when you are designing your website. Think about who your customers are and design the website around that.
7) Update content regularly to enourage repeat visiting.
8) Avoid filling your pages with reams and reams of text. People do not sit and read through websites, the skim them.
9) Spell check your website!!! Such an obvious one, yet it is overlooked time and time again.
10) Avoid large images. They are slow to load and therefore are throwned upon by search engines.
Social Networking and Blogging
1) Submit your website to Gumtree - http://www.gumtree.com/
2) Google loves Wordpress. Use Wordpress to develop your business blog.
3) Update your blog 3 times a week with interesting, unique content.
4) Include your websites key words within these blog posts; both in the title and in the body of the text.
5) Join networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpce and link to these in your website.
6) However, first think about your target market. If you are selling a product aimed at older consumers it would be ineffective to spend a lot of time marketing the product on MySpace which is a network for predominantly 14-16 year olds.
7) Submit your website to StumbleUpon - http://www.stumbleupon.com/
8) Include an add to favourites button on your website.
9) Post on forums that operate within your market. If you can, get a link to your website within your signiture.
10) Instead of adding 1,000,000 fans to your Facebook group, focus on your target market and therefore increase your efficiency.
Thank you for reading and part two will be coming soon after my fingers have recovered from all this typing. Would love to hear your thoughts and for you to add your own tips.
Cheers,
Danny.
