Hi all,

I was just discussing the usefulness of Facebook with my friend Jane from onsitecomputercleaning.ca, in terms of connecting on a business level and a few thoughts to ponder came out of it that I thought I’d share here .

She has two businesses – one service based, and the other a business opportunity that provides the system, training and more. Being new to Facebook she wondered if she should be using it for her business. To which I gave a resounding yes, of course! Are you kidding? It’s a free online marketing tool, and it has a user base of how many people…crazy big numbers!

Initially her argument was that because the clients of her service company are often large corporations they wouldn’t be tuning into her on FB…but I said, with the other business in mind, the people who are looking for a business opportunity are definitely online and likely on FB. Of course, as it often does when we start the conversation got a little out of hand and I made her miss a mastermind meeting very unintentionally – but we were masterminding on our own and having such a good time that she can hardly be blamed.

So anyhow, I also suggested that as a specialist in the disinfection of office equipment she knows about super bugs and the latest information on the spread of germs. She could very easily educate people in bite sizes through Facebook…educated people ask for what they know about, and feel like they need. Most everybody on Facebook works somewhere – likely where there is electronic equipment, and I’m pretty sure their equipment isn’t germ repellent. If it is, I gotta know where they’re buying it! There are so many ways Jane could use Facebook for her businesses! To rattle off a few in general terms, she could:

Educate
Drive traffic to specific pages of her site through posting links in her status updates (and measure the resulting traffic)
Connect with new people and companies
Announce news items
Launch her newest business offering

The bottom line is, people connect on Facebook – and what do businesses need to do with their target market? Connect! It’s a free way to connect with a lot of people, both directly and indirectly. And best, if you have statistical tracking tools for your site you can measure the results.

A print mailout campaign for a large area can cost you a fortune and be difficult to measure, whereas an ongoing campaign through Facebook is one that’s affordable to set up, easy to keep current, and measurable with the right tools in place. It may not produce the same dramatic numbers you are looking for with the mailout, but let me ask you this – what if the mailout doesn’t produce the results you’re looking for? That’s right, you’re out the money and it will cost you big bucks to do it again.

Online marketing has the power of being more fluid once it’s in place. You can easily change your message, offer, call to action, etc. without worrying about having to use up those 10,000 brochures with the wrong message first. Some of the social networking pieces you set up you may want the direction of a professional, to get off the ground, but then many of them are straight forward to keep up with on your own, and are free or are really affordable to use on an ongoing basis.

The power of social connection has never been easier to tap into! The fact is that so many people are using online social networking options that you can’t afford to ignore that as a great way of connecting. Email newsletters, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, simple email are all great ways to connect and run. I’m just picking on FB specifically because it was the one Jane asked about…one the one I’ve found to be most effective according to measurable site stats. And the fact is, more and more people that I meet while doing business look me up on Facebook – to me that’s a sound indicator that I need to be there.

I’m sure there are those of you wondering about the whole business/personal thing so this is how I do it. I have two Facebook accounts – one for personal and the other for business. I don’t think my business contacts need to be observing my personal life…and the fact is that my friends and I do a fair amount of social convening and keeping in touch through Facebook. And as much as I adore my clients, boundaries are a healthy thing in business. So if you were to look me up on Facebook, you’ll see me twice…and if you search Catch This! Design you’ll also see that we use a “group” as another way we connect. There are so many options, that it’s important to consider how you plan to use it, and then set it up accordingly.

How you use online marketing and social networking for your business will vary, depending on what you do, and who you need to connect with. If you’re using social networking for business I’d love to hear about it – please send me your comments!

Or even cooler, visit our group on Facebook and tell us there!!!

Have a super day & if you’re not taking advantage of the huge social networking movement for your business, get on it!

Shayne
Catch This! Design Inc.

I love Rotary! So do my friends Mary, Leah, and Lars, just to name a few. You’re probably wondering, what’s the deal with Rotary – isn’t it an old boys club? That’s what I thought too! And either that’s not the case, or I happen to enjoy attending an old boys club. You decide.

Seriously, we have the greatest time there. I’m relatively new to it and so I haven’t had the chance to find out what motivators brought my fellow Rotarian to the table to breakfast together at the Thursday morning club, but for me it was business networking that led me to it. Little did I know, that I was about to join a group whose reach was so broad, whose goals were so human, and whose achievements so many – a club I am now so proud to be a member of. It has come to play such a large part in how I connect with the world around me on a social and charitable level, and it is also an important source of business connections. It’s the very best of networking – and I love it!

I know there’s a virtual ocean of information floating around the internet extolling the merits of networking and why business owners should give it such high priority but I wanted to share my thoughts on it too…since you’re reading me and not just them. And because I want you to know that even if the thought of it has made you shudder and you’ve found ways to avoid doing it, if you are too insulated in your business, missing an infusion of new connections, or simply need some new perspective in how you approach your business, networking IS a highly efficient way to make connections.

Skilled communicators and people persons often seem to connect with ease at networking functions. Though I by no means intend to over inflate the importance of it, from my own experience networking can be an easy, fun & inspiring way to grow your business.

Whether it comes naturally or not, it pays to take the following points into consideration:

Where: You have to have good places to network! Nobody wants to go do something they don’t enjoy, so try a few different places. Move around a bit until and find networking that feels good because if it doesn’t feel good you likely won’t do it. If you hate networking at the lunch clubs, try a Chamber of Commerce chapter, or my favorite, a Rotary Club. Networking is huge – you don’t have to look far to find it.

How: Don’t rush it! Relax, enjoy yourself, have some fun and realize that networking takes time. This is not a track meet…the most productive business networking happens when you take the time to get to know people, and listen to them. If it’s a place where you enjoy yourself, you’ll be back again. The most productive networking happens when you take the time to attend regularly and build quality connections. Then again, by all means if you end up in a networking room that’s a total bust, don’t be afraid to move along…just don’t give up.

Why: Some people do it to build personal connections, others are more focused on building business connections. As has happened with Rotary, I went seeking to connect with business people and found myself around what would become some super pals…that was super. I’ve learned that in every social opportunity is a business opportunity and vice versa – if you’re open to it. If you’re networking for business, to be a success you do need to:

a) have a solid business / product

b) strive to have good social and interpersonal skills – be your likeable self

c) network in an appropriate place

d) allow time for your extended network to develop

What to take: There all kinds of goals and challenges you can set yourself when you go out networking, but above all the one thing you must have with you is your business card. There are a other things you may carry with you, depending on your business or purpose at the event, but when a quality connection occurs and an exchange of information is happening, a business card is the simplest form of making that exchange easy. I keep a box of cards in my office, and a box in my car. It’s very VERY rare that I’m caught without a card…it’s also rare that I hand them out from my office, but quite common that I’ve refilled my purse from the glove compartment before entering an event.

In closing, all of the above points could be further broken down and discussed but that’s my basic approach to networking in a nutshell. While it’s not the be all and end all to building connections, we’ve sure had a lot of fun with it!

I’d love to hear about your experiences and favorite networking places or groups! Feel free to comment here or send an email via our website.

You can check out my great Rotary club online at www.SADaybreakRotary.com

Photobucket is a super way to edit & host images for your social networking sites.  (www.photobucket.com) The free account gives you 1 GB of storage space and includes some fun image editing capabilities, you can make use of in a variety of ways.

Images give greater strength and impact to your message!  Keeping it fresh with new images in your newsletter will inspire your readers to be more responsive.  It’s by tending to your traffic driving tools and using them to make a connection with people that you can grow your business exposure, and track the results  of your efforts online.

The process of using Photobucket to host images is easy:

1. Upload
2. Edit
3. Use it – selecting the desired code from Share this Image section, and copy/paste it to where you need it.

For your newsletter, you will either use the direct link code where URL is requested, or you’ll paste the HTML code into the newsletter template.  For Aweber and Constant Contact its easiest to simply copy and paste in the HTML code that is provided by Photobucket.

If you’re using Facebook and/or Twitter, it’s easy to use these images there as well.  For businesses that need to store and use images for online marketing and social networking sites Photobucket is a handy do-it-yourself solution.

For more information on how we can help you take charge of your marketing, start driving targeted traffic to your sites, and track the results of your efforts visit us at www.catchthis.ca.

To be sure SEO and PPC are wonderful ways to drive traffic to your website and more traffic usually means more potential customers. Be advised though that your business might have top notch webpage with all the bells and whistles, and yet do very poorly on the search engines. The reason likely lies within SEO – if your website isn’t optimized it will sit on the internet and very few viewers (if any) will be able to find it. It still has its uses but for all intents and purposes, it likely does little more for you than fill the purpose of a trifold brochure. On the other hand, the search engine optimized website will draw traffic even while you sleep, and from people you don’t know and have no contacts with.

Now, a few things should be remembered. Firstly, there is the price – Catch This! Design tailors its services and SEO packages towards small business owners but that is not always the case. You will find there are a large number of offers for online marketing/SEO/PPC ranging in figures of upwards from four to five thousand dollars. These offers may well be quality goods however, their focus is quite simply too big for an average small business owner, and thus they are too costly to be justified for small business owners.  It is not unreasonable as a small business owner to see a great increase in search engine driven traffic for as little as $500 for the first time implementation of your SEO.

Secondly, it is not uncommon to see “guarantees” of increased traffic and/or performance. This point is not to debunk that claim – the truth of the matter is that any site without SEO will have increased traffic and improved performance once it has been properly optimized. However, nobody can guarantee just how high the increase and improvement will be. This is due to a number of factors outside of your control, namely the nature of the Internet. The internet grows and changes, some websites vanish and new ones appear. There are other non web based factors at play here also, for example the current recession means some people are less inclined to spend money on luxury goods. The time of year also has an impact, periods of summer heat can offers less economic activity, just as prior to Christmas overall shopping activity increases.

Thirdly, SEO, as great as it is, cannot just be left unattended once the website has been optimized. As the internet changes, your website must change with the it. If left unattended your SEO will degrade over time but be aware that degraded outdated SEO still offers more benefit to you than no SEO at all. Leaving SEO unattended is however not a good idea as its impact will be minimized and your website will gradually slip down further and further on the search engine listings. The rule of the thumb is that the potential customer will check the search engine for the first dozen or so listed pages. Slipping under the radar will still retain some marginal benefits for you but it is preferable if you tweak and adjust your SEO on a regular basis.

For more information about our SEO services, and to find out how we can help you take your business to the next level with effective online marketing, please visit us at www.catchthis.ca or email us at info@catchthis.ca

Introducing yourself should not be seen as a cold-call. Tell me, which would you prefer?

“Hi, my name is Shayne Lawrence and I’m a web designer. Do you know you need a website for your business to succeed?”

“Hi, I’m Shayne Lawrence.  I help take the confusion out of technology for business owners – I also work with them to find ways of promoting their business so they can grow and make more money!”

This is easily done by developing a USP, otherwise know as a “Unique Selling Position”. The USP identifies the most compelling product or service you offer and states its benefit in a way that lets the client answer the “What’s in it for me?”

When it comes to developing your USP, it’s important to know that it’s not enough to simply state that you are reliable, full service, or fairly priced. Let’s face it – everyone says that, and from a consumer standpoint it’s fair to expect those from any product or service provider you are willing to purchase from so this doesn’t differentiate you from anyone.

An effective USP must show your target audience how you can solve their problem.

IDEA GUIDE FOR ESTABLISHING SUCCESSFUL USP

• What do you do differently than your competitors?
• Which of these things is more important to your clients?
• Which of these, is not easily duplicated by your competitors?
• Which of these is easy to communicate clearly?

By answering these questions, you will be able to narrow down the most important or tangible benefits of doing business with you.

Remember: Your USP needs to be brief so it is advisable that you narrow down to one or two benefits to focus on.

Create a description of what you do in casual language, (not ‘Marketese’) this will be the most effective way of getting the attention of your potential client. Everyone is an expert at something, but not everyone is an expert at everything. Making a potential client aware of how your expertise can meet their need is the key to promoting your business in a fruitful manner.

By crafting a USP that lets your target market know how you can help them, and by listening to their concerns, chances are your initial meeting will be a more fruitful than if you were to actively attempt sell them something on the spot.

You need to allow that person to realize you have a skill that you can offer to them, and in a way that no one else can before they will be able to answer the “What’s in it for me?”

Once you have developed your USP test it out!  If you have a few in mind, test them all out and see which ones get the best response – it may turn out that you have a few that you use in varying situations. Talk with other business owners that you communicate with regularly and get their feedback. Mastermind groups are an excellent place to test your USP because they are generally made up of a variety of people who can consider it from differing points of view. Having the feedback of your fellow business owners can be invaluable to you as you build and test.

For more information on how we can help you take your business to the next level with strong messaging,  effective online marketing, and the development of consistent branding and print pieces please visit us at www.catchthis.ca

As a business owner, to establish credibility you must first ensure that the service or product you provide is delivered in a confident, trustworthy, and consistent manner. The bottom line is that you need to convey that you will do what is expected of you and that the quality of what you provide can be counted on.

IDEA GUIDE FOR ESTABLISHING CREDIBILITY

Entertain

Every business owner wants to talk about what they do,  as you do.  Be friendly, charming and sincere – build a relationship – ask questions about what they do, why they do it, and what their needs are. And listen closely to their answers – there will be a pop quiz at a later date, you can bet on it.

Questions you might ask include:

• What are your primary concerns?
• What have you done to address these concerns in the past?
  Tell me about what has worked, and what hasn’t.
• What difference will addressing these concerns make to your business?
• What is it that keeps you from addressing this need?
• Is this a priority for you?
• How soon would you like to make these changes?
• What sort of time and budget do you have to commit to making these changes?

After they’ve had a chance to communicate some  of their concerns, don’t be afraid to let them know what solutions you can offer specifically to them and their situation, then explain to them how these services differ from your competitors.

Educate

Let them know who you are and why your services stand out from the rest. This does NOT mean you have to call the competition down.  There are many ways to communicate that your product or service is superior, simply by making the differences apparent.

It is critical to demonstrate how you can solve their problems. By having benefit-rich marketing materials on hand like business cards, short testimonials and a promotional offer, you will be giving them the tools rather than a sales pitch.

And on the the topic of testimonials – do be specific in how you ask for them when you are collecting from your clients. Testimonials will be much more effective if they address the benefit that client experienced by working with you rather than just stating that it was pleasant experience.

People are interested in the results of what you offer, a good example of this is; “Where did you get your hair done?” A hairdresser doesn’t gain clients without a client. He/she will undoubtedly gain a plethora of referrals by simply putting their product out there in the form of a good hair cut or color.

Allowing your clients to speak to a potential client by way of testimonial or demonstration can be one of the best ways for you to show what you do.

Energize

Be excited about what you do! Nothing is more intoxicating then meeting someone who has a genuine fervor about how much they want to do business with you and how hey can help you make more money or gain more clients, etc.

Use analogies; if they’re a hairdresser tell about them about the portfolio you did for a stylist, if they’re a restaurant owner let them in on the menu you designed, for musicians how about the sound clips you’ve put on websites to help promote up and coming shows.

Not only will these micro-testimonials give your prospect insight into what you do, but it’s assigns a value to what you do. And in turn will give your potential client a better idea of how much they need your services.

Provoke

If you’ve made a good impression, and you’ve succeeded in gaining a measure of trust, it will naturally progress to the potential client actually giving you the opening to deliver your call to action.  Be ready to deliver it, since this is the opportunity you’ve been working toward!

Lastly, solidify the relationship in it’s infancy by giving them something tangible to remember you by…be imaginative and unique.  To find out how we can help you increase your memorability factor, visit our website at www.catchthis.ca

We offer a free website or SEO analysis, depending on the needs of your business.  Your website visitors are not machines, so why use machines to analyize your site?  Because you work with real people, these analyses are done by real people  – contact us to request yours.

Regardless of who you are or what business you are in, there are certain things you need to do to ensure the continuing success, profitability, and positive results of your hard work.

Success takes planning! However, the only way to know if your actions are moving you toward meeting your goals is to develop a system that ensures you present your business in a consistent manner. By doing so you will be able to more effectively track the results of your efforts.

Any business system that takes into account your future growth needs to address:

•    how you routinely generate new leads and get the attention of your potential clients & referral sources.
•    form and further grow relationships with other businesses and potential clients.
•    move the individual or business from prospect to client
•    deliver your service effectively & reliably
(If you would like to learn more about this I highly recommend the E-myth.  I found it to be compelling reading, and something I could easily put into practice.)
•    maintain contact

The ultimate question you have to ask yourself is: “What drives the potential client to decide whether they need my services or not?“

That will depend on your method of demonstrating what you offer.
If you’re finding that time and time again you can’t quite nab that “big fish” you may need to re-evaluate your approach.

Implement items and language that set you apart. Give away “free” items like coupons, consultations, or products. Speak to your target market as though, at that moment, they are the most important client you gain that day. Don’t we all as business owners wish to be heard, helped and supported?

Become a trustworthy mentor or advisor; give free “tips” via email, newsletter or online blog.
Most people will feel set apart if they receive a small note in the mail, “I really enjoyed our chat – and look forward to doing business with you!” (Personal mail has been seriously under-rated in this email heavy time, yet it’s the first thing people open when they receive it.)

Articles that demonstrate your expertise, share helpful tips, or educate on the importance of certain aspects of concern to the target audience are also great tools for establishing credibility.  If you give someone a tip they can put into practice, or a piece of information they need, you will have automatically gained credibility in their eyes.  Not only that, articles of expertise can be useful in terms of providing bits and pieces as sources of information for use in newsletters and other mailings you send out.

As a result of all this crazy activity I’ve got a ton of fun design work booked, and we’ve got a few fantastic web projects in progress as well.  It’s amazing what a flood of business our networking, social, and learning activities generates.  And it’s such fun too!

So while I’m busy catching up to taking care of business, and preparing a special treat for all of you who wanted to blog but didn’t know where to start I’d like to just offer you this time sensitive offering:

My friend Jane Tetley, of On-Site! Computer Cleaning (www.onsitecomputercleaning.ca) has a new marketing campaign about to launch which includes a mailout of several thousand pieces of print mail targeted specifically to local businesses.  With such a sizeable campaign in the works to promote her free demo, she is expecting to be handing out an increased number of gift baskets to many of these businesses in the near future.

Her company will hand deliver your advertising, in their gift baskets, for FREE…click here to find out how!  At the above link Jane has provided a detailed and clear outline of how the gift basket promotion works, and if you have any questions she will gladly answer them.  To get your advertising out there while the campaign is fresh you should talk to her right away.

Have a great week, and stay tuned for my upcoming piece on blogging for busy entrepreneurs.  I’ll break it down into  into easy to handle bite sizes, and show you the basics of accessing a blog, posting to it, and jazzing up your posts.

To my hosts & hostesses in Calgary, and all our friends & family who worked it in to see us during our crazy schedule…

Thanks Comments
Myspace Comments – Myspace Layouts – Host Images

While there were a number of speakers with differing topics of importance, more than anything else the prevailing message that stood out to me was: Dare to dream – and be tenacious!

Even though we are currently in times of global difficulty, change, and economic stress, that doesn’t mean you should let it rule your outlook.  I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve caught myself forgetting to dream, in response to the prevailing message that things are tough right now.  Really – who says?  Are they truly any tougher than before?  And is it because of the “economic crisis” that they are tough?

Don’t buy into it…there is no less money or opportunity in the world than there was last summer.  I’ve personally had to take a step back and evaluate my own dreaming of late, or lack there of.   We’ve actually just come through a few years of great success for a growing company, and I’ve transitioned from being a solopreneur to partnering with my husband on a full time basis.  Not to mention, we’ve also grown to include other bright specialists in our business, to bring greater value and key services to our clients.  We’ve relocated our family and the business twice in less than 8 months!  In reality the challenges that we’ve faced have little or nothing to do with the “recession” – they’ve been the natural result of our daring to live our dreams and leap toward what we want without reservation.  We’ve been doing it despite fear!

That we have been able to work together to support ourselves, and move our family to a beautiful little lakeside city where I’m much healthier IS living the dream.  But does acknowledging that you are “living the dream” you had mean you stop dreaming?  In an effort not to forget gratitude, and to be thankful for what we have, I realize that I had mistakenly stopped dreaming…I had unwittingly stopped looking beyond where I am to where I want to be.

Now is the time to refocus your dreams.   If you’ve achieved your dream, grow it, refresh it, reshape it.  Instead of looking only up to the point of staying afloat and covering your needs, look beyond…see what you dream of, write down what you aspire to, and know that if you can dream it you can achieve it.  Despite reality, who says you can’t dream it and bring it to being?

I am a firm believer that you get what you focus on – so what are you focusing on?  If you keep your eyes firmly focused on “making it through”, you’ll do just that.  Is that all you want for yourself, or do you want more?

Whatever your business, wherever you want to go in life, this applies to you.  If you want more, then look beyond – it’s not ungrateful of you, it’s the magical combination of gratitude and your growing and ever-changing dreams that create your reality!

This past week I had a client who was attempting to send me a batch of photos to be updated on her website. Much to her disgust, after a number of failed attempts with her email program and the software that came with her digital camera she gave up and let me know that she was at her wits end and didn’t know how she was going to get them to me. Allow me to clarify, she had successfully transferred the photos from the camera to her computer and sorted them, but simply didn’t have any luck when it came to sending them out.

Lucky client, she’s also a friend and I was planning a visit anyhow, so I told her we’d get her all fixed up while I was there and that she could quit stressing over it.

Upon arriving and seeing what she had for me it became immediately clear what the problem was. She had a BIG, seriously B-I-G batch of full resolution photos (150MB worth) she wanted to send me, and no way to size them down if she wanted to.

Typically, I don’t send over 10MB in email. Why? Because even if I have an email provider that lets me send huge files, the recipients may not. On my machine, in my office, I’d probably downsize the image and then send it normally, but in Michelle’s office the easiest, most reliable way of sending these files from her to me was through You Send It.

Their free, or Lite Account is good for almost all large file transfer needs you might encounter in the regular scope of business.

• 100MB/file maximum
• File will be stored for 7 days from the time of upload
• Can be downloaded 100 times, so you can send it to multiple recipients
• 1GB of download bandwidth per month _ this represents the total GB of files that can be downloaded by your recipients. If you have two clients download a 100MB file you have used 200MB of your bandwidth. FYI, there are 1024MB in 1GB

If your file is under 100MB in size, you can send it for free. Basically you upload the file to their server, and they notify the person you are sending it to with an email that the file is waiting for pickup. The file is held for 7 days with the free service.

Using You Send It is an easy, no software needed solution to files that are too big for emailing. Next time you are just at a loss as to how you’re going to send that file give it a try – even better, don’t wait till you’re at a loss. Go get a free account. Oh, and no…they’re not paying me for this. But they should!

One other thing – they will offer a software option to send files…it’s your pick. I try not to clutter my system up with a lot of excess stuff so I didn’t bother with it, and have had great results with sending and receiving by doing the upload right in the browser.

HINT: To send large batches of things, like photos or pdf’s, put your files them in one folder (or more if needed) and then zip that entire folder into a single file to be uploaded.

To zip a folder right click, and select Send to > Compressed (Zipped) Folder

Because of the internet, and automation in general, doing business these days may be more accessible to you than ever, but that doesn’t mean it comes free of many technical challenges & headaches. If what you’ve read in my blog leaves you saying you need help, contact me to find out how we at Catch This! can be of service.