To you, your business is probably one of the most fascinating things in your life. As an SME owner you most likely live, eat, sleep and breathe your business, and you could talk about it all day long.

Just in case you’re under any illusion that it’s as fascinating to other people, then I’m sorry to burst your bubble.

It’s not.

And neither is your web site.

In these days of a huge level of online “noise”, there are so many others competing for visitors attention (and, ultimately, business) your website should do a lot more than just tell people who you are and what you do. It should go a bit further and actually do a job for you.

It needs to be “Sticky“, and it needs to pass the “WIIFM” (What’s in it for Me?) test

It should:

1. Grab their attention
2. Keep them there for a while
3. (Ideally) get them to leave their details as someone who is interested in what you do.

So how do you do that?

Well, it depends on your business, but some examples of what you could do are:

• Special web-only offers / discounts / coupons

• Don’t make your site all about you – if your home page reads something like “We’ve been in business for x years and we believe in delivering quality customer service every time . . . etc” or something similar, you probably need to change it – remember WIIFM (by all means have that on your “About Us” page.

• Have content on your site which is related to your business (for example:

HR consultant? – possibly articles & advice about current HR issues;

Accountant?  – again, articles & advice about tax returns or accountancy developments

Marketing consultant? – articles & advice about how to market better ;-).

Make it of use to the reader, and not a sales pitch for how great you are (remember the “WIIFM” test)

However no 3 above is, I believe, the most important job your website can do.

You probably have a measurement of the number of visitors to your site on a regular basis (or if you don’t, you should), and if so, you’ll know that you have x number of visitors per month.

When they visit your site, look around and leave, do you know who they are?

Do you make any attempt to try and get their details?

If not, then it’s a bit like going to an event and meeting lots of business people and not getting any of their business cards. Effectively the relationship is over, unless you happen by chance to meet again.

Same for your site – why not at least try and get some of your visitors to tell you who they are? If you give people enough of a reason to leave some contact details, then a percentage of them will do so.

Take my site, for example – if you have a look on the right hand side you’ll see that you can download a free e-book “7 Small Business Marketing Mistakes you may be making right now, and how to fix them” – if you enter your first name and email address, confirm your request, it’ll be sent to you straight away, free.

There’s no catch, no hard sell, you won’t get spammed, and hopefully you’ll find something in there which will help in your business. You can even download it and then unsubscribe straight away if you wish, and you won’t hear from me again (although I can’t think why you’d do that – then you’d be missing out on all this marketing wisdom! ;-))

Can you translate that to your business – is there anything you could allow your website visitors to have if they leave their details?

What information would it be useful for them to have that you can provide in exchange for their email address? (remember the WIIFM test – it has to be useful for them)

Could you put it in e-book / video / podcast or some other digital format?

If you can do that, then you would be on the way to gathering the details of some of your website visitors, rather than have them visit your site and then leave without saying hello!

By Aidan Breslin – Google+

I had a meeting the other day with a small business owner who expressed concern that his website was not doing what it should be doing in terms of bringing in leads.

The reason? Because it was outdated – it was done over 3 years ago and just looks old. So he wanted me to have a look at re-vamping it. He’s had a web designer look at it and tell him it needs to be brought up to date.

We’re talkin’ Flash video slideshows and photos. Social media buttons. Bells and whistles. The works.

I asked him what was his budget, and he told me “around £1,500 – £2,000”.

Then I asked him what was his budget for ongoing marketing of his site, to which he said “Well, it’s already on all our letterheads, business cards, invoices and other stationery, so our customers know about it and we do get some traffic. The site just looks dated so we need to get it re-vamped”

Then it would really start working for his business – right?

Wrong.

Sorry, but if too few people are visiting your old out-dated website today, what makes you think that any more people are going to visit your fancy bells and whistles new one tomorrow?

And if when they get to your site they’re leaving and not coming back, then that’s a functionality problem, not a aesthetic one.

You see, how your website looks is only part of the picture.

Let me make an analogy, if I may.

A few years back I worked with a company which bought and sold retail commercial property. Now, one of the key factors in valuing this type of property is footfall – the number of people who walk past your shop window is likely to have a high correlation to the number of visitors to your shop, and subsequently the number of people who actually buy from you (all other things being equal).

So the busiest areas of the busiest streets (prime pitch) are more likely to survive and prosper (and pay higher rents)

With that in mind, which do you think is more likely to survive, an average-looking shop in the prime pitch in town, or a gorgeous shiny new shop down a quiet side street?

The difference is footfall, or in digital speak, traffic. Getting targeted eyeballs on your offering.

So back to my friend’s website – thinking that re-vamping his website will make it work better is a bit like the shop owner in the side street thinking that re-vamping his shop will make a difference to his business. It may make some difference initially (and if it’s so bad that it puts people off buying from you then it should be looked at), but it’s only part of the issue, and it’s unlikely to help long term.

So what did I tell my company owner friend from earlier?

I told him he just needed to adjust his thinking slightly, and take his budget and split it between:

• adding a few tweaks to his website (not a total redesign / spanky new updated look, as his web designer contact had encouraged)
• doing some work to get more people to visit it (targeted ones), and interact / engage with it when they do – this is important and often overlooked by SME”s who have what could be called a “brochure” site, i.e. it tells people what you do, and not much more. That’s a wasted opportunity, your site should do some work at gathering leads for you.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not in any way knocking web designers – it’s more from the point of view of you as a small business owner understanding that it’s just a part of the puzzle.

Over the next few posts, I’ll go into more detail about what specifically I’m going to advise him to do to tweak his site.

I’ll try and stay away from tech-speak too.

Hope it helps

By Aidan Breslin – Google+

Unless you’ve been in a bubble for the past few weeks, you’ll be aware that Facebook recently went public with an IPO.

You may (or may not) also be aware that a few days before said stock market launch, General Motors cancelled their $10 million advertising budget with Facebook.

Kinda begs the question – “Do they know something we don’t?”

Well, yes and no.

The reason they cancelled was, I’m certain, because Facebook advertising is not good at selling commodity items such as cars.

Let’s look at it a bit more: – think of the mindset of going to Google to search for something. You know what it is you’re looking for, you type it in, and Google produces all the relevant information you could possibly want about your chosen topic / product / service / research, etc. It doesn’t matter whether you’re looking for “plumbers in Belfast”, “cheapest deals on iPad 3” or you want to know “why does ice float?”, you want to know something, and Google will deliver you an answer.

In other words, at that moment, you’ve got an itch, and Google will help scratch it for you.

Now consider your average Facebook user – in broad terms they’re there to interact with friends, catch up on what’s happening in their peer group, and generally engage with other users – in other words, they don’t have a specific reason for being there (in fact, they’re probably there to kill some time!), and they’re certainly not there to be sold to.

And this is an important difference – to give an analogy it’s like the difference between chatting with friends in your local coffee shop and looking for something in the Yellow Pages.

At the coffee shop, it’s social. With the Yellow Pages, it’s focused on an outcome and, well, itch-scratching!

Anyway, back to General Motors and their Facebook ad-slap.

I’m not saying Facebook is not a good advertising platform, but it does depend on your company / brand. There are certain types of company / brand / product which suit better for Facebook advertising. For example, if you can build a personality around it; if your business is based around events, travel, entertainment, or any kind of user experience; if your product is customised, personalised, or other has any other unique selling point; then you may have a chance with Facebook advertising.

But I believe the objective for Facebook (and FB advertising in particular) should not be the sale, but to attract and engage with a prospective customer.

Give them a reason to connect with your business, build trust and develop a relationship with them, and sell to them later.

By Aidan Breslin – Google+

Hello and welcome to my blog, where I will be talking about all things small business marketing, focussing on how you can use digital marketing better to drive your business, and covering some useful resources and tips that will help you in your business

I hope you find it useful, and please feel free to ask questions or comment (good or bad!) – I’d love to hear from you.

Enjoy!

By Aidan Breslin – Google+