Small Business – Choosing the Right Equipment

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Saving or wasting money in small businessDespite times being tough Toni and I have been going through a small period of equipment upgrades.

We’ve purchased a new specialised printer … we purchased some new cameras and lenses … we’ve done some direct marketing for Toni’s business and we’ve even hooked up some new secondary hosting with an upstream provider.

We always knew that a shopping list like that would set us back a reasonable sum of money and the temptation was there to make our purchases based on price alone. Why spend over a thousand dollars on a new digital SLR camera and telephoto lens when you can buy a digital camera for less than $100?

Why buy a digital SLR camera when you can buy a non-SLR digital camera that comes with more bells and whistles and costs around half the price?

Why buy a printer for nearly $300 when you buy them down at Office Works for less than $50.00?

Of course it all comes down to what you want to use the equipment for. The $500.00 non-SLR camera may have had more bells and whistles than the camera we bought but the one we bought is far easier to use and produces a much better result that we could have achieved with the cheaper camera.

The $300.00 printer does more than just print A4 pages and that extra capability was what we wanted in the printer we were shopping for.

In both cases we could have spent a lot less than we did but it would have been false savings. The cheap printers and cameras that were available didn’t do what we wanted them to do so we would have been wasting money rather saving it if we had chosen those cheap options.

And that’s the way you have to look at things when you’re a small business and you’re looking at buying equipment. Forget about the price point and buy what will work for your business … if you’re a bit strapped for cash then don’t make the purchase.

It’s far better to go without for some period of time than wasting what money you have on something that isn’t going to do the job.

You should always buy what fits your need … you should never buy something simply because it is the cheapest option.

Just recently I did a comparison piece on small vans for small businesses over on AussieMotoring.com and it showed up the same principle.

One van was several thousand dollars cheaper … and on the surface that seemed like the obvious choice for most small businesses … but when you look beyond the price you see that the cheap van is a little lacking in some areas and may not do the same job as one of the more expensive vans.

Small Business Should Not Rely on Google

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Toni and I have been involved in web design and search engine optimisation since 1998 and over the years we’ve seen a lot of small businesses build their business based almost solely on selling to the people that Google sends to their websites … hey we’ve done it ourselves and in years gone by it’s worked well for us.

But times change and if you’re thinking of taking your business online because you think that Google will send plenty of business your way then maybe it’s time to think again. Sure there was a time when it wasn’t so hard to get a website to rank on the first page in Google and we’ve done it for ourselves and for many other clients but those days have gone and they’re probably never coming back.

Now we see Google ranking websites not so much on the value of the website to potential customers but on other factors such as location … what a person has searched for in the past … and other factors that are totally beyond the control of any website owner.

In fact it’s obvious that Google doesn’t necessarily show someone what they want to see but rather what Google thinks they want to see. Some would even go so far as to suggest that these days Google shows you what Google wants you to see and there is no doubt that small businesses are going to struggle for good listings in Google because these days brands play a big part in what Google wants to show you.

And for those who still think that Google is the friend of small business and still wants to live by the mantra they once had of “Do no evil” then here’s some food for thought.

“Search quality is not a main focus for Google any more (as roiesp mentioned). When you realize you can make money hand over fist by using power, market dominance, duplicity, disregard for rights etc., suddenly, maintaining a truly great search experience is too much like hard work in comparison.”

That’s a quote from a comment in this discussion about a recent update that Google pushed out that did an incredible amount of damage to a number of small businesses that relied on Google for their income. An update that damaged a lot of people who believed that they were following Google’s guidelines.

So don’t ever think that having someone build a website for you and spending a lot of money to get it optimised is a guarantee that Google will be your friend because the fact is that they don’t care about you and they don’t care if they destroy you in the blink of any eye. And anyone who wants to convince you otherwise is a fool.

 

Small Business and Social Networking …

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… it’s about future-proofing your business.

A small business client came to me recently and wanted us to put some links to Twitter and Facebook on the websites we had built for him.

“So you’ve set up a Twitter account and you’ve opened a business page on Facebook have you?” I asked.

“Well … no” he replied with a puzzled look on his face. “Do I have to do that?”

And right there I experienced another head-meet-desk moment.

Here was a reasonably savvy business person who had hit some tough times but saw that his way out of them was by adding links to Twitter and Facebook. Someone had told him that he had to get into social networking if he wanted to work his way out of the problems he faced and he he though that all he had to do was throw up a couple of links on his site and Nirvana would be achieved.

I tried to explain to him that Social Networking is a lot more than just adding links to a website … it’s a lot more than just joining Twitter and adding everyone you can find … and a lot more than setting up a Facebook page and friending everyone in sight.

It’s more about engaging with other people than standing on a corner and shouting your message to the world. It’s more about the long-term than any short-term “just-add-water” solution. It’s about talking with people and sharing with them and it’s about listening to them and helping them where you can.

It’s about months and years … not about minutes, hours and a day or two.

And after that explanation he went away to find someone else to add those links because he didn’t have time to waste talking to people on Twitter or Facebook and he wasn’t interested in the long haul. He wanted easy solutions right now and if I wouldn’t give them to him he would find someone who would.

Facebook and Twitter are places are places that your small business just has to be otherwise your business won’t survive in the future … just don’t look for instant results because they won’t happen. Getting on to Twitter and Facebook is about future-proofing your business … not apply some quick fix.

Small Business – Offers Too Good To Be True

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Well after quite some time away we’re back and this time we plan to stay back. Business has been good while we’ve been away from here and there have been some less-than-good times too.

This area where we live and do most of our business is going through quite a difficult time and the rising value of the Australian dollar hasn’t done much for us either but we’re still here and still looking forward to getting out of bed every day.

So how has it been for you? Is your small business doing well? Is it surviving? Or is it struggling for breath and really looking like it’s about to fall over?

If your business is facing tough times and is struggling to survive then the carrion are circling. They may not be able to see you but they know you’re out there and they’re going to lay their traps for you. They’ll offer you great deals on just about everything … some may even offer to do business for you … and their offers will be so hard to resist.

For any small business that’s struggling a great offer is always hard to resist … you just want to grab it with both hands and run with it so you can drag your business out of its death throws and back in the game. You don’t stop to look to hard at the offer … you don’t have much time to think about it … grab it now or it’s gone forever.

That’s the pressure that they’ll put on you because the quicker you grab the deal the quicker you’re in their clutches … they quicker they’ve ripped you off … and the quicker they can move on to the next easy mark.

So no matter how tough things are … now matter how good an offer sounds … always stop to think things through before you grab it. If it’s that good a deal then spending a day or two thinking things through won’t do any harm.

But on the other hand if you begin to realise that the offer sounds too good to be true then it probably is. Walk … no … run away from any offer that sounds too good to be true because it always is too good to be true.

If your business is in trouble then the only way to survive is to go right back to basics and stop looking for quick fixes that are no fixes at all.

For Pity’s Sake … Really?

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When your planning on hiring someone to do some work on something that is a key part of your business don’t hire someone because you feel sorry for them. Don’t hire someone because they’re always coming around begging for work.

Hire the person who has the proven track record … not the person who has to beg for work because others have realised just how incompetent they really are.

Small Business Website that Works

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Ok so it’s been a while since either Toni or I posted anything here. I guess that some of our regular readers may have wondered whether our small business had died during the recession but it didn’t.

Times were a little tough there for a while but we’ve come out of it in pretty good shape and now we’re busier than ever … which is more than we can say for some other local businesses in our line of work.

The reason we stopped posting was because a local competitor was taking some of the things we wrote here and including them word for word in their newsletter and claiming them as their own thoughts, ideas etc. Now however that competitor is no longer in business … at least not in the form they were in when they were stealing our content.

So now that you know why we’ve been away let’s talk about a local small business that has found that a website has brought them a lot more business than they thought.

The business is Hearty Foods a small business that provides nutritious ready made meals. They operate from a small store where people can call in and pick up frozen meals that are prepared by a real chef on the premises.

Not long after they started business they contacted us to build a website for them. Basically they wanted to put their menu online so that people who were house-bound … and there are quite a few in this town … could choose some meals from the menu and then call and place an order and have the meals home-delivered.

We built the site and promoted it on a number of local websites and at the same time the guys at Hearty Foods added the site’s URL to all their off-line marketing and the site became quite popular. They didn’t get millions of visitors to the site but they did get plenty of locals who downloaded the menu and called to order meals.

We even had a couple of friends who found the site, downloaded the menu and wanted to give it to us because they knew that sometimes we’re too busy to cook.

Then late last year they decided to take their website to another level and have us turn it into an online shop so people could actually order and pay for their meals.

While we were happy to do that for Alex and Chantal we really did wonder just how many people would actually use the online store. The first problem we saw was that Hearty Foods only delivers to a fairly small area and the second problem was that the people who had been using the home-delivery service were mostly older people who may have been reluctant to use their credit cards to make online purchases.

But we built the site and turned it over to our clients and to our surprise people have actually been using the online shop to order and pay for meals to be delivered and the guys at Hearty Foods are now thinking of ways to expand their online presence.

So if a small business in a small town can make a website work for them can a website work for your small business? And if you have a website for your small business and it isn’t working for you then why isn’t it working?

How Will Your Small Business Cope With Death

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It’s been a while since I’ve had a spare moment to pop in here and do one of my typical brain dumps but business kicked into overdrive back in June and that’s still continuing, Toni spent some time off earlier this month after a knee operation and about the same time her mother passed away.

It wasn’t a sudden passing … unfortunately she spent about three weeks slowly fading away and we spent a lot of that time at the hospital and that put a heck of a strain on our business. Fortunately all our clients were very understanding and in a couple of instances we were able to pass some of our work … the work that Toni and I usually handle ourselves … over to those who work for us (most of them are already working at 100% capacity just like us) and that somehow got us through.

But how would you and your small business cope if you had to spend a very large chunk out of every day at the hospital as a loved one slowly passed away? If your parents are elderly then it’s something that you should be considering because when it happens you’re going to need some contingency plans in place or your business may pass away as well.

Perhaps that all sounds a little insensitive and the time we spent with Toni’s mum wasn’t time that we felt was wasted in any way … it’s important to support a loved one right up to the time they pass. But the strain it puts on your business can be incredible and it really is something you need to be preparing for because it’s inevitable.

What Do You Do When …?

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Here’s a question that a number of small business people are going to be asking themselves in this town in the coming months.

What do you do when you run a small business in a tourist town that has just had it’s major tourist attraction hijacked by a number of other towns that are all much closer to your target market?

Whale watching is a big deal in this town and for three to four months each year it’s boom time. Sadly for those small businesses that depend on whale watching for their existence the last few years have seen a major increase in whale watching tours being offered by new operators in places that are much closer to where the tourists live.

With the increased cost of travel people are staying closer to home and for this town the coming whale watching season is not looking good. Fortunately our exposure to businesses that rely on that annual tourist boom is limited.

What would you do if your major market began to shrink?

Expanding Your Small Business Offline

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Fraser Coast Lawn BowlsThese days more and more small businesses are taking their business online. Some are even going so far as to shut down their bricks and mortar stores and concentrate solely on selling online.

Actually succeeding online can be quite a challenging task because suddenly you’re not just competing with other businesses in your own city or town. When you take your business online you’re competing with other like businesses spread around the world and if you want to succeed then you had better know what you’re doing and understand the realities of conducting a business online rather than pinning your hopes on the fantasies that so many people peddle.

Something you see less frequently is a small business that is doing well online and now wants to expand into a shopfront out in the real world. However that’s exactly what one of our clients has done in the last couple of weeks.

Fraser Coast Lawn Bowls shopFraser Coast Lawn Bowls came to us late last year and asked us to build an online shop for them and we did and right from the start business was good. The owners used our expertise to market their business online and they used their own expertise to market the store offline and business has been very good.

Now they’re taking their business out into the real world with their own shopfront and even in these hard times business is looking good there too.

So don’t limit yourself to running a business online … there are plenty of businesses that should do just as well offline as they do online and maybe your small business is one of them.