Social Media
Posted by ticket2launch in Social Media on September 1, 2014
Without a doubt if you are running some sort of business, that includes an online presence, then you need to be on Social Media. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+, Instagram and more. No problem I hear you say lets sign up. STOP!!!
Ask yourself a few things first.
What do we want to achieve from my online presence?
What is the objective of the online presence?
How will we manage this presence?
Who is the target customer?
How do you want them to respond?
What content are we going to share?
How can we best manage the online content?
So many questions that need answering as part of your strategy. You need a strategy, and a damn good one. Having a Social Media strategy far out ways signing up to a social media platform that is not right for the audience you want to target. Lets say you are selling high-end consultancy to board room members, LinkedIn may be a better platform than Facebook. If you are selling jewellery and beauty products, then Pinterest with its visual presence may be best. If you want to get maximum numbers to your webinar or conference call, then Twitter and Facebook could be best for this. It just depends what you want to achieve.
One of the first things I suggest you do is read up on the Deming Cycle (Covered in many books and in ITIL), known as the PDCA.(Sometimes refered to as the PDSA). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDCA
- PLAN: Design or revise business process components to improve results
- DO: Implement the plan and measure its performance
- CHECK: Assess the measurements and report the results to decision makers
- ACT: Decide on changes needed to improve the process
So lets look into this in a little more detail.
PLAN – Identify what you are trying to achieve. Write down the objectives, outline any disadvantages you see e.g (If we use Pinterest we miss a large male portion of the audience, if we are trying to target gender equally.). Do diagrams. (Pictures always help) USe tool such as Cause and Effect Analysis from Mond Tools (http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_03.htm)
DO – Once you have devised the PLAN implement it and start to measure its effectiveness, the level of data to be analysed will drive how you respond. Facebook and Pinterest have great Analytic tools for the business user.
CHECK – Look at the statistics, what is working what is not, discuss ways which may add improvement if needed. Dont forget to check and analyse the success as well. Find out why it did so well. What did you do right, that could be used again.
ACT – If you need to make changes act on them now , the issue may not always be the wrong platform, just the implementation.
If you notice when you look up PDCA 90% of all infographics show this as circle, a continuous cycle (hence the name), so just because it works for you now, keep planning, keep doing, keep checking and most of all keep acting, adapt to change. Do not be lulled into a sense that as it works we have done it right, lets just leave it. You need to keep measuring the performance.
So how do you devise this strategy. If you search through a search engine you will see lots of template offerings. But to be honest and this is what I did, create your own! Your business is somewhat unique. Do some research build up a list of 10 questions to head up your plan and then answer each one of them. Once they are satisfactorily answered start to implement and continually measure. If something is drastically wrong, maybe you need to address the questions within the plan, maybe you are not addressing the purpose correctly. If things are going correctly you still need to keep continually checking, if there is a lull in response why, do you need to refresh, or was there other actions going on that day in the world that day?
Next up I will go into LinkedIn and highlight a few essentials that need to be correct. LinkedIn is just great. Such a powerful tool. The post after that will look at Pinterest, a totally misunderstood platform.
Back soon!
Choosing a Domain Name
Posted by ticket2launch in Business Plan, Getting Started on May 29, 2014
Before moving onto WordPress to create the site that will help launch your business. You need to select a domain name. This is a minefield if you are not sure what to do! Most mainstream companies that provide web hosting and domain registration such as 1and1(www.1and1.com), Bluehost (www.bluehost.com), GoDaddy (www.godaddy.com), Justhost, (www.justhost.com), Enom (www.enom.com) and Hostgator (www.hostgator.com) all provide web hosting and domain registration services in various packages and prices. After doing a little research and through some experience this is what I have found.
In the US most blogger seem to like Bluehost or GoDaddy. In the UK it seems to be Just Host (please feel free to correct my research). I will be putting my business on Just Host and will register the domain through them. Now from experience I use 1and1 for a couple of organisational websites I look after, uptime is not brilliant. After doing some reading I also found that trying to move away from 1and1 is a nightmare, even as far as them cancelling the domain name. Some say technical support can be awful, though the couple of times I have used this is has been adequate but not great. But now I have started getting sales pitches to my home from US based agents. So just one reason I wont be continuing with them. The other reason is their panel for administration, most other hosting companies fore mentioned use the cPanel, a very popular administration format. 1and1 use their own type of panel and to be honest its been updated over the last few years and not for the better in my opinion.
So choosing the domain name. Once you have thought of your companies name. (See previous blog post). You want to use as much of that as the domain name don’t you. Here is the problem, if you select a simple name such as Jim Smith Consulting, chances are that domain name well the dot com version anyway is taken. So again when choosing a name try to be unique but not to quirky it puts people off.
So you have your name and you want to register it as a domain name. This domain name is your identity on the internet so try to get it right first time (Just for your info I have already messed up on this, so now have a domain name I don’t want).
You need the domain name (and website) up and running before you start advertising your services as people need to have some way of finding out what you are about and doing their own research on you and your brand.
Be wary of free domain name hosting service packages, the package may come with a domain name that sounds like a good overall costs but you may not own the domain name because the hosting company have given it to you free.
Therefore if you switch hosts you may not be able to take the domain name with you. So make sure when you register the domain name that it belongs to you. You are the owner, this means you can go to the WHOIS websites that show your information and your name will be displayed and the Registrant, Administrative, Billing and Technical contact, (if you have not paid for Privacy, see later) you need to be at least the Administrative and technical contact to be in full control. If you don’t appear to be that, question your domain registrar to confirm.
If you do want to break away it may cost you to do so to take full control.
So what domain extension should you get. Without doubt if you can afford it the daddy of them all is .com, but as I point out before if your business name is not original then it likely the .com version will not be available. Then you have the .net, .org. info and other domain for specific countries such as .co.uk. Lots more domain extensions are now being released so realy its up to you where you want to market your business. If its local then .co.uk might be fine, if its an organisation and money is not the aim of the game then .org will suit. If you are going to create a business that will sell a product or service and geographical boundaries are non-existent to you, then I recommend the .com every time.
So what works and what doesn’t work with domain names. Hyphens don’t work, visitors to your website wont remember where the hyphen is and search will not rank your site as highly (my first mistake). Numbers don’t really work either, unless of course if your brand name has a number in it.
Avoid long domain names, I know one of the successful blog sites is called iwillteachyoutoberich.com , you know the one by Ramit Sethi. However he often refers to it now as IWT if you do read or subscribe to his blogs.
When you do decide to register with your provider make sure you enable whois privacy, this will probably be a cost optional extra. What this does is when someone does a whois on your domain they will get your domain registrars rather than your personal details. So really just a security feature. So if checking the legality of ownership make sure you speak to the registrant to confirm who owns the domain as discussed above. If you want your details to be in the whois response then don’t enable this feature.
So in summary:-
- Choose your domain name as soon as you have decided on your company name.
- Use a reputable company such as Bluehost or Justhost as your hosting company
- Register the domain name in your name, avoid freebies.
- Try and purchase the .com domain extension, you can of course purchase other extensions and redirect them to the .com if you feel like splashing out.
- Don’t use hyphens in the name, this is bad for search engine results and customer visualisation.
- Don’t make the name too long.
- Enable Domain Whois Privacy
Investment
Posted by ticket2launch in Getting Started on May 8, 2014
Well after much oohing and aaahing, I have finally decided to make and investment so keep this project going. I needed a new computer as using my employers just didn’t seem right. The house desktop is rarely used and is an Windows XP (now not supported) machine. My good lady wife purchased a Windows 8 machine and I have hated it since she got it. Just to make matters worse since the 8.1 update its been about as stable as a house of cards.
Having been a big opposer of Apple products for many years, down to lack of knowledge and cost I must admit, a few years back i got an iPad as part of a training material purchase. The iPad was great it just worked, a few times it crashed but nothing too bad. It was only 16GB so decided to get an improvement, so sold my 64GB Blackberry Playbook and put the money for this towards an iPad mini, 32GB, tight git that I am I did this just a few days before the new retina screen iPad mini went on the market as they were discounting the 32GB older models. The iPad mini is great, easy to hold, I now read more books via the kindle app. Then I got a an iPhone 5 which replaced the Blackberry, sorry BB but you lost your way and I was fuming when you said you would stop developing the playbook as it was an excellent tablet.Again the iPhone just works, never crashes, is very fast, browser is excellent unlike my BB.
So I needed a new PC, you still with me? Back to the original purpose of this post. I opted for, yes you guessed it, an Apple MacBook. I didn’t get the Air version as thats more for the traveller and I have the iPad for travelling. You can also use iCloud for storage but for free they only give you a few GB, I have BOX and they gave me 50GB of cloud storage. But with regards to the MacBook, all I can say is should have bought one years ago. What an excellent piece of technology. I am loving it and don’t see me ever going back to Windows as long as its this ridiculous touch screen display. Apple assure us they won’t go down the route of pushing the tablet OS onto the desktop OS. Now I need to learn, Pager, Number and Keynote. But who cares…if you don’t have one and cannot stand Windows 8, get one you will not regret it.
PS. My wife now wants one too!
Funding
Posted by ticket2launch in Getting Started on April 28, 2014
Always a difficult one, do I self fund or do I borrow? That all depends on you and your circumstances! Do you have enough savings to support your daily or weekly outgoing?
Here is where I see it. Your most valuable asset is your talent, right! This is the thing you are trying to sell. So how much funding do you need to sell this talent. If it’s a physical product then of course you will need a lot of cash. If you are the product, then funding is optional. You do of course need funding for other various aspects such as marketing, daily expenses and of course a wage..
So where do we get funding from? There are basically four main places Banks, Venture Capitalists/Angels , the 2Fs and D, and You
Banks.
Avoid, unless you have put together a business case as described in the previous blog. Banks are only interested in themselves, not your business, so lending to you should be based on a low risk investment with guaranteed return. they are not your friend and could become lead weights around you neck. If you are drowning they will be the ones holding on to the rubber ring and choosing if and when to throw out the lifeline or not.
VCs/Angels
Are you big enough yet? (You are why you reading this blog then?) In the early stages of a business that is worth nothing these guys wont invest. These guys will only do it for a quick return, so they will want to look at your business inside out. If they dont see a quick return or envision a quick return on your product its unlikely they will invest in such a fledgling company. So sorry unless you have the next answer to Facebook, then lets leave these guys for now. We will discuss them in a later blog. These guys will be better for you than the bank in certain ways but be prepared to give up some equity in return for the funding.
The 2Fs and a D
Family, Friends, Delusional.
Can be very useful to ask your family for cash to start-up a business, and if its Mum and Dad, are they going to say no to little Danny’s start-up request. But Mum and Dad might not have the capital unless they re-mortgage and you wouldn’t make them do that would you….you would…wow!!!! So how about sister and brothers, of course depending on your relationship with them, and their own cash flow, this could either strengthen it or cause fallout. My advise here is unless you know any downside of starting the business wont effect your relationship then leave family alone unless they are willing to gamble their investment with you, and of course still give you that unconditional feeling if things go wrong.
Friends are similar to family in that they may give the money but they are more likely to want something in return, such as share of the profit, equity and input. If you want to be the person on complete control of your startup then weigh up what if anything you are willing to sacrifice. Though we have not discussed money made, we will in a later blog, do you want to give away some of your hard end money, how much are you willing to give up. If you give them equity they may think they have a say in how your business works, unless they are on the same wavelength as you do you want this to happen. Friendships can be lost and for what……money? think carefully.
Delusional or whatever way you want to look at them. You may know someone in you local rugby club that is willing to say give you a few grand after hearing about your company, if these guys hardly know you but are willing to throw cash at you then they are plonkers, don’t take the money, it will only give you more pain and stress that you don’t need as believe me when they start looking for a return of sort they could give you a big headache.
SO!
So this leaves YOU. Use what funds you can afford. Paying for a web domain and a little advertising are not that expensive. start selling items in your house you don’t need. You still have the 9000 miles of Scalextrix track and 1980-90 F1 racing cars in their dozen. when was the last tie you used that…sell it!! Scalextrix is still good business. Sell other stuff you don’t need, golf clubs gathering dust, shoes you have only worn once, dresses you will never wear again (this doesn’t count for me..I am male…or maybe it does!!). Sell them on Ebay, though the costs for commission and then Paypal (also owned by Ebay) means 20% of what you sell goes to Ebay so account for only getting 4/5ths of what it was sold for. Sell on Facebook, loads of areas have local selling pages for people to offload some of their goods. Though take note people will be looking for a bargain so you might not get as much as you want for some goods. But for what ever you sell add it to your start-up capital and use some of it to fund a marketing campaign to get your name out there.
And talking of marketing as this is being read by no one……I deliberatly intended it that way because future updates will be on the use of social media and other ways and means to increase your visibility.
Business Plans
Posted by ticket2launch in Business Plan on April 22, 2014
What are they for? From where I see it the business plan is only ever used for two reason, to gain funding (as investors want to see if its a viable business) or as a small business to get bank funding.
When you present the business plan that you have spent weeks constructing, fine tuning, getting proof read, then rewriting, only to give it to some obnoxious bank member who’s only interest is the commission, yet their dummies guide for handing out loans states they need to see a business plan, which they will not read or digest. If your business goes badly or very well 6 months later, do the bank call you to ask if you are sticking to the business plan, do pigs fly?
Likewise large funding organisations when your businness is profitable and client rich will want a plan for the next level. They will probably read this with a fine tooth comb and ask for some adjustments before even get close to agreeing to funding. And rightly so as they are just about to give you a lot of money.
Finally do you as a business owner go back and look at the Business Plan, dusting of the layer of dust and cobwebs from the drawer each time you do. Of course you dont! I am not dissing Business Plans as mentioned above they will come in useful for funding if required and the right situation.
So what can you do instead, what you need is something you can refer to, something you can update regularly as your business grows and you may need to take a slightly different path. Two of the best methods I have seen come from Mike Michalowicz (http://www.mikemichalowicz.com/resources/) and his Prosperity Plan which is outlines more in his book, the Toilet Paper Entrepreneur (http://www.mikemichalowicz.com/books/) . It might just be one sheet, but its one sheet thats says a lot about your company and you can keep going back to it as your company grows, to tweak it accordingly.
Another similar approach is the Battle Plan by Lonnie Sciambi “The Entrepreneur’s Yoda.” (http://www.thesmallbusinessforce.com/blog/989/early-stage-entrepreneurs-dont-need-a-business-plan-they-need-a-battle-plan/)
I am looking into more of this style to come up for the correct approach, I will also look into business plans, but hold them on the back burner until I have someone wanting to invest in my company. But the Prosperity/Battle Plan method seems the way to go for now.
Once it is built i will post a sample but not the actual one here.
Lets get this thing started!
Posted by ticket2launch in Getting Started on April 22, 2014
There comes a time when one stream of income just isn’t wise. So you have to look at other ways of utilising your skills.
There comes a time when you might want a change of scene. Why? Just certain things change, your outlook on life changes. Your circumstances change, your hopes and desires change.
Do you hold on to a dream to be self sufficient and have the added bonus of being successful. Don’t lose it then it is out there.
So this is where I am at and join me if you like. My aim is simple. Within 12-18 months to be running my own Social Media Marketing and Business consultancy, making my own money, making my own decisions and most of all making my family life and myself much happier. I dont aim to be a millionare just enough for a self sufficient lifestyle. But what I will provide is Social Media, Marketing and business advice for those that want to listen.
Does your business need advice on social media and strategy? Do you even have a strategy for social media? You should!
Have you looked into what you are investing in? Is it going to the right places? Will it improve business efficiency?
When the next sales person walks through the door, the first question you want to ask them is how much money will this save my business. I know a business local to me that does just that…and rightly so. That ROI might be months or even years but there needs to be an ROI, that could be anything from greater productivity in house to more sales of your business product. And then when you have the solution in place that works for you, you can then start working on your business growth like marketing strategies and sales programs. Of course you may have to go back and review the business situation from time to time, but purchasing poorly from the start can only cause headache and lost revenue. That includes physical products and advice
Likewise for a consultant, the first question you want to ask is:- What value are you going to bring me? If you ask whats your hourly rate then its unlikely you will get the best value.
In the comming weeks and months will be giving out more words of wisdom and also sharing my process to start out as a business with zero cash, yes thats right zero cash on day one, but of course will be looking and ways to stream cash for investment.
ticket2launch 
Making WordPress Work
Posted by ticket2launch in Business Plan, Getting Started on May 13, 2014
As you can see I am currently using the free version. This will change as funds increase. When it changes I will say something about it, and the process taken. One of the other things is finding the right template, as you can imagine the best ones are not free. I am not going to go through how to do it here as thats not the point. But you can get excellent guidance from various online sites or WordPress themselves. Have a look at learn.wordpress.com
Ok so the blog is up and running but how can you get it to work for you. First things first you need to decide on what you can afford. Decide on your plan and your domain. If you go for free as I have you can upgrade later. Stick up a picture that defines your business or if the business is you put up the picture of you
Before you start blogging I suggest you get comfortable with the dashboard first after you register. If you don’t then I promise you, you will make mistakes, I know I did.
Once you have got comfortable, you then need a theme. As with plans some are free some are not, so choose wisely.
Depending on what you do purchase, you can the customise certain aspects of it to make it your own. You can headers, backgrounds, widgets, colours and fonts can all be changed. But again depending on what you have paid for your options could be limited.
Once you have decided what to write and publish it, what else can you do. If you feel really keen you can add video, pictures even audio. Go on create a podcast! This is something I will be doing but this will come later in the process.
Don’t forget to add a picture that defines your blog, this can be a personal picture or something unusual. The picture can be added through the general settings or you can use something referred to as a Gravatar.
So how can you get your blog noticed. You have all heard of TAGs right, what you haven’t? Tags provide a useful way to group posts together. They also make it easier for others to find content. Don,t get confused between tags and categories though. Categories also group posts together but are broader in there definitions. For instance the Category could be Airplanes, but the tags could be Boing 747, Dreamliner, Airbus etc. Easy to get it wrong so consider what your tag will be. Is it highlighting a topic within the blog post or is it defining the post. Categories show up in your sidebar. Tags will appear along the bottom.
Tags and comments alone wont do much though unless someone stumbles upon you by accident. You need to get on social media and get people to like and share your comments. So this is where i will go next. Facebook, Twitter, Google +, LinkedIn and Pinterest are the main ones I will use. But again the use of social media has to be done right, just having all these internet communication mechanisms wont really crack it either. It needs to be done right.
One last think despite doing this free as mentioned I will sign up for the premier account, this will remove the wordpress.com, or I might even transfer it to a web host, create the WordPress site offline and then upload it to my host. I have downloaded the WordPress file from wordpress.org. This will allow me to create a greater website, that will include a database where i can build up a subscribers list. Keep watching as the roots start to grow.
comments, gravatar, plans, podcast, social media, tags, themes, widgets, wordpress
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