There are lots of things to think about when starting a new website so we’ve tried to focus on the essentials for success. Obviously there will be loads more you can add – but that’s good & you should do so.

So where do you start?  Well you should think about who will be using it and what they will want from your site and then think about the content & layout next. This is actually the reverse of what usually happens which is the business owner writes the site content which is all about themselves & the company. Then the layout is done & finally the end users get to see it.

So we’ve called this article how to write a website backwards – which is exactly what you should do to be successful.

Why?

Because you put your customer & their needs FIRST. Not yours.

So here are our basic rules on how to construct your website for the best results & profitability.

Number 1

What is your purpose in business?

What is the business you are in exactly? Are you just selling things, are you just making things?, both?, do you offer self help?

You’d be surprised at the number of businesses that mix their messages on their website. To make sure you don’t confuse your site visitors (or disappoint them) make sure you focus on your business objectives. Be clear right from the outset that you need very clear messaging in everything. This leads on to the next point.

Number 2

What is the purpose of your website?

Being clear on your purpose in business leads to clear messaging on the website because you know what you are saying. That’s totally different to being good at your job by the way. If you want to buy some shoes (say) then your site or at least that part of it that sells shoes, should be very clear on its footwear focus. Not anything else.

Something else to think about right now is how many websites do you want. In theory, you can have as many as you want, so think about a single website focusing on just one aspect of your business. For instance shoes only. Then have another one that sells just sunglasses and so on.

This will give you a definite focus and lead to better customer experience too.

Number 3

Why will people visit you?

If you are clear on your purpose AND your messaging then the need your business meets or the problem that it solves for people will be obvious. If I need shoes – I know where to come!

Number 4

Who is your website for?

Who are your target audience or audiences? You should be doing at least SOME basic research to see if people actually want to buy what you are selling!  How big is the market?  What do they need?  What makes them buy?

Do your research first before quitting your day job!  If you have no market then you won’t have a business, so make sure there are customers out there first. Research on the Internet and at the same time you can see what websites you think are good & which are not.  You will find that the ones which are more useful meet your needs (regardless of what that is) and those that are of little relevance are soon forgotten.

You want to be in the first category.

Number 5

What problems do they have?

Research your market and find those hot topics. Look on discussion forums and radio shows & newspaper articles etc. Find out  what problems your customers  have right now and how can you help solve them?

 Number 6

What words do they look for (online) to solve their problems?

Right so now you know why you are doing business, have developed focused websites & messaging, identified target groups & their problems.

What now?

You should look at the volume of keywords that are typed in to search engines each week or month that indicate people are using to find answers to these questions. There are some very useful free tools from Google like their Adwords Keyword tool you can use to start with. Just search using keyword research tool to find it.

Number 7

Your keyword research will give you a good idea of how many people look for your keywords each week or month etc. You should tyr and optimize your website page(s) content to contain at least some of the top keywords or search phrases (groups of search terms e.g. where can I buy shoes for very large feet?).

If you know lots of people are looking for certain words or phrases to solve their problems, or are just interested in the subject, then yu stand a much better chance of success than simply “busking” your new website content, based on what you did for the last 25 years in your last job!

Try and optimize for the most searched keywords and keep the focus on solving peoples problems or meeting their needs – what ever thy may be.

Number 8

Buyers go on the Internet when they have an itch to scratch

People who use the Internet generally fall into two categories (yes that IS a generalisation!) But they either want to be either entertained or informed. So if you need information (maybe for research or maybe to buy) it’s because you need that information now or soon.

If you don’t have any particular need, then you are probably seeking entertainment. That’s the difference between (say) Facebook and the Internet community of other websites.

So make sure that you provide the means to “scratch their itch” so to speak. In other words when they find your website, make sure that you give them what they want first time. That way they’ll stay longer on your site and want to interact with it. You can then get them to leave their contact details or even buy.

Its as simple as “You got it. They want it” when you do it right.

We hope you have found this article useful and even a little entertaining but the message is serious.

• Anyone can make a website.

• Lots of them get site visitors.

• Some may inspire visitors to get in touch. Many don’t.

• The most successful companies are those that meet the needs of their customers.

• Know who your customers are. Talk their language. Engage with them and solve their problems.

• The internet accounts for an increased percentage of retail sales every year and will only increase from here.

• Dzined are here to help new or established businesses grow.

Call us now on 01992 350066 and we can talk. Who knows where that will lead!

How bad can abandonment percentages be?

Studies have revealed that anything up to 75% + of ecommerce website visitors place goods in the shopping basket and then leave a site without completing their purchase.  This is not a new phenomenon either, it’s been happening ever since the internet made online sales possible.

Now if you were losing three out of every four customers in a bricks and mortar retail shop you would think that an utter disaster – so why do so many people treat ecommerce as anything different?

Well I think the answer lies in the fact that we simply don’t see it – all we see are the one out of four that DO complete and we treat that as our 100% level. So if you’ve ever wondered why you get so much site traffic but so few sales from it, read on.

Here are some tips to reduce shopping cart abandonment

Section 1.

Browsing & adding products to the basket

Provide enough information about the products

The internet is crammed FULL of information about virtually everything. So to find information about products is easy. In order to keep your customers fully engaged on your site and reduce the risk of them wanting to fill any knowledge gaps on another website, make sure that you have every single scrap of possible information about the product you can on yours. This means that if someone is shopping they can get everything in one place.

Having given your customers all the information you can, give them a compare function so they can look at models A, B and C together. If you can provide other relevant information here too then do so. This might be warranty information, returns policies, delivery schedules, stock availability, FAQ pages etc.

Also – have other means of communication available to use. Simple things like a phone number, Instant chat, Skype or live help.

Clearly show the total cost of the product

Not knowing the final price you will pay for an item is an extremely common reason for shopping cart abandonment. No customer should ever be uncertain about the cost of an online purchase. By clearly stating the full delivered cost of products at every stage of the buying process not only reduces abandonment, it can encourage customers to buy more goods in a single transaction especially if you show free delivery on purchases over a certain amount.

In stock or out of stock?

How annoyed would you be if you’d found the perfect gift on a website, placed the order & then got an automated email saying its out of stock!
Ensure that the availability of items is clear. Ideally have a live indicator, but always try and give clear information on stock availability & delivery times.

Show the Warranty period

Customers should be clear on what the warranty offers – how long, what does it cover, what does it exclude etc. By providing accurate information you will reduce buyers fear and bolster their confidence in your company leading to more sales.

Offer a lowest price guarantee.

How easy is it to get an alternative price for almost anything online these days? So if you offer a price guarantee (or risk reversal guarantee), you provide a reason to buy from you and not go surfing for a 1p saving elsewhere!

Product price or the fear of overpaying is a very common reason customers abandon the checkout process, look elsewhere to check your prices are OK then never return. If you can’t compete on price, offer more and better value added packages than your competition.

Gain customer trust

Gain customer trust and that’s the first hurdle overcome. Unfortunately without trust there will virtually never be a sale. As many as 20% of people abandon carts because of trust issues. So let people know what your policies are surrounding their privacy, returns, complaints procedures etc. You should also openly disclose your cookie policy. What do you do with cookies on the site & how can they change it (if at all). Encryption of data when buying is also important. You will have an SSL certificate so show what this offers in the way of safety for those who need the reassurance.  You might also want to tell people what you do with their credit card data & show you are PCI compliant.

Section 2.

During the checkout process

Don’t force people to register before they can buy

The simplest way to achieve this is to have a guest checkout system. This just means you aren’t collecting their details as a registered user. According to research, up to 23% of shoppers abandon their order if they are required to pre-register details before a purchase can be completed. You can always ask them to register afterwards & provide them with a compelling reason (or offer) to do so. Run a guest checkout as a trial if you like or set up a split checkout path with and without the guest checkout to see what happens to conversion rates.

Don’t ask for too much information unless you need it

Regardless of how many or few steps you may have in your checkout path, at some point your customers will have to fill in a form to buy the goods & set a delivery address. Fewer details mean fewer form fields and on the critical forms (e.g. delivery details) only use the fields you need. Take a critical look at your forms & see if you really need all 3 names, DOB and inside leg measurement!

This rule applies to other forms in general too, so not necessarily just on ecommerce forms. Handle clients with care and only take the necessary info that you are going to need. Too many requests appears intrusive.

Reassurance customers at every stage

Customers are often suspicious about shopping online (even now), so you should add as many point of action reassurances at each stage of the checkout process to encourage a purchasing decision.  A point of action reassurance may include customer testimonials (happy customer experiences say a lot), site security logo’s like the verisign or hacker safe logos. padlock safety symbols etc

Try to place these where customers feel the most anxiety like at credit card entry fields or even on every page of the checkout process.

This goes for the successful sale too. Following a completed purchase, email your customer with an acknowledgement of their successful order and reference number for delivery tracking (ideally). This puts the customer in control of the information flow and that empowerment will encourage further sales & sales recommendations.

Style your checkout process

Never underestimate the power of styling and design. The size and labelling of action buttons (e.g.  CHECKOUT or CLICK HERE ) By placing elements on the page that encourage a response you can increase conversion rates hugely.

So if you have a clear, easy to use and simple layout that reassures customers and guides them through the checkout process, you’ll be way ahead of your competition.

Offer help via pop ups or text during the checkout process

Online shopping carts and the checkout process are not standardised, but they do have common elements. If customers experience problems due to unfamiliarity, you can offer clear help instructions on each stage, or offer alternative means of buying like a phone call instead. Even better if you can get them to give you their email address for future marketing by using a request form for a call back.

Sometimes its the little things that make the difference so always use a link back to the product in the basket. People often want to check they are about to buy the right thing or maybe mak a substitution. Shopping shouldn’t be hard, so help them.

The thing is to be convenient to your customers when they actually need you. For instance if you require the CVV (card verification value) code that appears on the back of the customer’s credit card, make sure you explain how to find it. Use an image of a crd or explain it clearly. Novice online shoppers may have never been asked before, since retail stores don’t require it with PIN verification.

Bug exterminators!

Sometimes the tiniest thing can make a form break or just do nothing which will worry a lot of people. It should woory you too! What ever the fault is you will need to get it fixed as soon as humanly possible.  A small error can lose you a customer for life, so stay on top of your check out process. We suggest you place a dummy order regularly just to test the system.

What if the card transaction fails?

Card transactions can fail for all manner of reasons. The most common ones are either missing or incorrect details being entered for either personal details or card details. So the first element is to validate forms sothat missing data is highlighted, secondly if a transaction is declined, retain the entered data & transfer the customer back to payments page. It’s surprising how many forms clear the data and the customer has to re-enter their details which caused frustration & leads to abandonment. If it fails further down the line like the verified by VISA stage (if included) then there might be a problem, but you can still save the basket for later.

Improve site reliability

If your site or pages take a long time to load up, this can be a cause of site (and cart) abandonment.  People have certain expectations of technology that, if not, met lead to very rapid movement away. When you are dealing with credit card numbers online, slow sites often feel like insecure sites which is why abandonment occurs.

Another reason is sometimes the fear that if they wait and press a browser button the transaction will happen twice leading to phone calls and general grief to get a refund. So they leave.

The higher the site traffic, the higher the need for a decent (dedicated) server which runs as fast as possible.  Always ensure your server is set up correctly and beware cheap hosting deals!

 Section 3.

Payment stage and abandonment and how to reduce it

Offer multiple methods of payment

Give your customers the option to pay with PayPal, Google Checkout, or credit cards (other may also apply here too). Your personal perference may not be to use these methods but you can be sure that a proportion of people who have a Pay Pal or Google Checkout account use it because they can’t be bothered to fill in all those card details on a form.

Less clicks for them = More profit for you.

You need to decide if the extra charges you may incur with Google or Pay Pal justify the extra revenue you currently lose by not having them available. It’s probably not more than a couple of percentage points per transaction so you need to do the sums & see if it’s worthwhile.

Provide contact info and live chat while shopping

Make sure your customer service number and live chat links are prominent in the checkout process in case there is a problem with the website or the customer needs to ask a question.

Save the basket contents from the last session on exit

One of the top five reasons for cart abandonment is the need customers often have to stop, go away and have a think about the purchase (more common in women than men) and then complete the sale. If your website doesn’t remember the basket contents  then the actual process of replacing the items in the basket & looking for the things in the first place can (and does) put people off.

So make sure the basket contents remain in the basket next time the user visits. The ideal way (especially as cookie rules are changing) is to get them to “consent” to the basket being remembered by having a button they click to grant their consent, but you can also state in your T&C that the default setting is set to remember cookies for (say) 30 days.  Please be aware of and check  the current legislation on cookies.

“Email my cart” function after purchaser leaves your site

If your checkout path has a point where you can capture (voluntarily) a customers email address, then you can email the basket contents to them if they abandon. This remind them what they were looking at to make a later purchase. This can be a very effective means of conversion. You can also make a compelling offer (e.g. a one time discount or extra value offer) to return within a set time period. You might also want to look at “remarketing” which is available now.

Use Google Analytics Data to monitor abandonment points

Google analytics is free to use and although its not perfect, it provides a massive amount of useful and testable information to a business owner. Look at analytics data to identify where your customers abandon most often. Once you can see the stages where abandonment occurs, you can set about remedying the process.

In conclusion, however much you take online at the moment, I pretty much guarantee you lose money somewhere in the chain. Think about that 75% figure at the start, if your website is only running at 25% efficiency, you could be making a lot more money by helping people buy from you. Below is a quick checklist for you to use.

We strongly urge you to look at your ecommerce checkouts and if you need help, please call Dzined on 019992 350066 at any time.

 Quick Checklist to use when examining your own website payment process

• Provide as much information on products as possible.
• Allow product comparisons to help the choice.
• Remove any hidden costs so the final price is clear from the start.
• Provide stock availability (live stock levels or just in/out of stock).
• Clearly state warranty & guarantee periods, inclusions & exclusions (via links to full documents if needed).
• Gain trust by having privacy and trading policies clearly accessible at all times.
• Don’t make customers register to buy from you. Allow guest checkouts. If it is essential to register & collect information, do it later on. Explain the benefits of registration.
• Keep the checkout process to a minimum of pages. Make it clear to see what happens next & where they are in the process.
• Provide a link back to the product in your basket. Always allow customers to finally check or change their mind.
• When an item is placed in the shopping cart, include a link back to the product page and a thumbnail picture of it in the basket. Shoppers can then easily jump back to make sure they selected the right item.
• Allow for easy edits of basket quantities.
• Improve site reliability. Sites that load pages slowly frustrate customers into leaving.
• Make your “Next”, “Continue” or “Checkout” buttons really obvious at every stage of the checkout procedure.
• Always include you head office or trading location, especially when starting out as a reassurance you are “real”  business.
• Offer multiple payment methods and multiple contact methods. If a customer abandons, let them complete by phone.
• Add in testimonials to the checkout process showing previous customer comments.
• Look at your error messages for when things go wrong. Do they help or horrify your customers?!
• Don’t clear the basket each time the browser closes and provide help with what to do next.
• Email the cart contents (if you can) on abandonment.
• Consider adding an offer in the email you send to induce completion.
• Look at your Google analytics data for points of abandonment & fix them.

If you would like any help or advice on your existing ecommerce website, or you would like to talk about adding in an ecommerce element to an existing website, we would be happy to discuss your options and pricing with you.

Please call dzined on 01992 350066 or email us at sales@dzined.co.uk

1. I love you!

2. The Cheque’s in the post.

3. I’m from the Tax office – I’m here to “help” you!!

Well now there’s another one to be aware of which can cost you a lot of money if you’re not aware of it.

4. Your Computer has a virus and we can fix it

Lots of people are getting phone calls out of the blue from abroad (they seem to be coming from India currently but could be coming from anywhere). They phone you up and say something like – “you have a comuter am I right?” and then go on to tell you that they either are from Microsoft, are some sort of agent or affiliate to Microsoft or Windows and they are of course “Here to help you”.

They say your computer is either at risk or running slowly or they can check it for viruses.  The words are not important, they ALL have one thing in mind. They want your credit card details so they can “sell” you their services.

THIS IS A SCAM! – So this article sets out some advice for you to avoid being ripped off.

We are receiving one or two of these type of calls each week ourselves and it’s pretty obvious that they are quite clever in manipulating you and tell you all sorts of things that make you so worried that you feel obliged to do everything they ask. After all, they are here to “help” you – right?  I actually asked the last one who paid his wages and he gladly confirmed that it was indeed Microsoft!

This sort of manipulation is sometimes referred to as “Social Engineering” – Go Google it.

If you get one of these phone calls, hang up. You may want to wish them a nice day in your own words first, but DO NOT enter any commands on your PC. What they are doing is trying to establishing a remote connection with your PC and then (very often) will either run a simple (and FREE) diagnostic check which you can do yourself. The outcome will of course be that your PC is under threat and if you give them £Lots – numbers vary – they will “fix” the non existent problem for you. If you don’t know anything about computers, this can be both impressive and worrying. THAT is what they rely on. At that point they become your friend and you need their help – or at least that’s how it feels.

Other scams involve loading on a virus or other malicious software and then charging you for “cleaning” your hard drive.

So what do you do if you get one of these nice support calls from “Microsoft” as they will state.

Safety advice.

1. If you get one of these calls, and all evidence points to the fact that you will! Just hand up and don’t worry.

2. If you are concerned that your PC might be online with a remote scammer, you can always turn off the broadband connection during the session. This is no guarantee that no damage will have been done, buy it might just save the day.

3. Invest in some decent anti Virus software and Anti spy-ware and run a full scan immediately.

4. If in doubt, contact a reputable IT company or PC repair outlet and let them take a look.

5. Update your browser. This one is 100% FREE. The latest versions of modern browsers like Firefox and Internet Explorer  let you see what the top level domain is. So if you  are reading this article on a later browser you will see this domain at the top of the screen “http://www.dzined.co.uk/2011/your-computer-is-at-risk-phone-call-scams-from-abroad” and you can see that dzined.co.uk is in black and the rest is in grey. That means we aren’t hiding our true identity behind anything else (like a sub domain). If you are asked to go to a scammers website, you might see something like http://dzined.microsoft/pchelpdesk,  but here only the dzined part is black because the .microsoft bit is one we made up to fool you!

6.Always use strong passwords to protect your data

7. Take regular backups of your data – Your PC will be able to do this & set a restore point from the last backup.

8. Make sure you install the latest updates from Microsoft automatically as there are always a number of security fixes that come out. They are always free and can be set to download automatically when you connect to the Internet each time a new one is launched.

9. Remember that Microsoft NEVER make unsolicited phone calls to people – EVER. So always treat such phone calls with absolute skepticism at best.

10. Get an Apple Mac! Scammers will rarely bother with you then because the operating system is completely different on a Mac! Plus they are wonderful to use (but that’s only our bias!). Macs are not immune but they are a safer bet.

If you have received one of these calls and your PC is now infected or you fear it is infected, you can find out more information at the following (genuine!) links. Above all don’t be afraid of the Internet, just apply the same common sense rules that you would in your daily life. Basically if it sound either too good to be true (e.g. you have won the Spanish lottery that you didn’t enter) or it sound plain dodgy – it probably is -  so just walk away.

Helpful links for further information and advice on scams and computer security.

Microsofts safety & security centre

Microsoft Windows Forum on Scams

Microsoft developers forum on Scams

If you would like any further help or advice on PC security, please contact Dzined on 01992 350066 or email us via the website

Now whether that’s true or not (it was near Halloween!) it seemed to me that the feeling of helplessness pervades through business life as well. Plenty of business owners are either unwilling to take a critical look at their business and how things might be improved, so they continue, zombie like, in the same way as always and unsurprisingly they get the same results!

If your results are outstanding then great, but unfortunately many business owners report the exact opposite.

Here are some useful tips to help improve your business if you feel  a bit Zombified!

1. Your Website

With the rise of the Internet almost everybody has a website these days which is great. But when the Internet was in it’s infancy (only a few short years ago) people were sold the idea of the Internet as one giant shopping mall and your website was a shop window so all you had to do was open your doors and business would come flooding in!

Unfortunately that wasn’t the case.

In principle, your website could be seen as your store front, but if you were a “shop keeper” wouldn’t you make the most of your shop window?  Wouldn’t you put the shopper-stopper stuff in the window so that people walk into YOUR store?  Yes – of course.

So why is it that so many business owners assemble a website and then walk away for years and leave it exactly the same? Your business is forever changing – you could have a special offers, or new stock lines (really good ones!), or staff changes, or new vehicle livery …the list is endless. So are you putting all this on your website or not?

You should be. Not only is it a true reflection of who and what you are, it’s also good for search engine recognition and more interesting for regular site visitors who are reassured that you are still in business and still active.

So what should be in your shop window?  Well if you were a greengrocer, you’d fill your window with red shiny Apples or the best Carrots etc – Put your highlights in the window. The equivalent is your website home page. This is almost always where new site visitors land.

Just go to your own site now (go on) and look at the home page.  Is it showing red shiny Apples or not?

People will only interact with your site if they are given a good incentive. That could be an offer, it could be a download they like or just something eye catching with design.

Show people what they will get if they deal with you, show you’re not just another business. Tell people what they’ll get and why you are the ones to go to.

That way you’ll stand out from the crowd in the Zombie infested mall that is the Internet and get more business.

2. Your Marketing

This is the biggest grey area for the majority of people. Everybody does something but not enough people have an integrated system that is tried & tested to produce a reliable number of sales each day, week or month. But unfortunately that’s precisely what you need.

Good marketing revolves around getting people to say YES to your offerings and if you do it right you will be able to take sales leads from the point of being interested to actually making a buying decision.

Here are a list of things that you might want to try in your business. If you would like to learn more about marketing or set up a meeting, please call Dzined on 01992 350066 or email sales@dzined.co.uk

1. Test different web page layouts to see which is the most effective at getting you new customers. This might be sales or sales enquiries depending on your business. See our article on A/B testing.

2. Try sending more emails to your regular clients. If you have an opt in form then people are much more likely to read your emails when you send them. We run lots of campaigns for our clients using a professional HTML email system which really works.

3. Try SMS messaging. When you are sent a text message what’s your first reaction? To read it almost certainly. That’s also tru for your customers so why not try setting up a test where you send your customers a text message with an offer. This can work really well with hairdressers & beauticians where sometimes people cancel at the last minute so you can instantly fill gaps if get the offer right. Plus you can make offers open for a really limitred time e.g. 2 hours or less if that suits you. Try it.

We can set you up with an SMS sending system on request, but you can test this from your own mobile today – for free!

4. Google Adwords or Pay Per Click marketing. This is one of the most cost effective methods of reaching new customers imaginable and if you’ve never tried it – you should. many people are either unsure of how to go about it or unaware of its potential, But those that use it properly usually make a fortune.  To learn more about how Dzined can help, email us today or call 01992 350066.

5. Paper marketing.

This can be leaflets or flyers distributed by mail or a direct mail campaign to your own mailing list or a rented mailing list.

If you send a flyer or a company brochure, then the same ground rules apply to the brochure design and delivery method that apply to all your marketing activities. These are to sell the benefits of your product or service, use a clear informative layout and give people clear instructions what to do at the end of it – this is the “call to action” – Tell them what to do & how to do it.

Make it easy for your customers to buy from you – it never ceases to amaze how difficult some people are to get hold of, or how hard it is to find a company phone number on a website. Worse still are the ecommerce websites that make you jump through all sorts of hoops just to know how much you are expected to pay for something.

So to tie all this together, if your mailings are directing people to your website to buy, make sure your website is up to scratch. Make your website the easy one to buy from and you’re already ahead of the Zombies!

For more practical advice on how to market your business and your free review, please call Dzined on 01992 350066 today. You can also email us at sales@dzined.co.uk or SKYPE dzinedmain.

Flip books have some benefits over a standard PDF in that they don’t have to be fully downloaded before you can view the pages (pages are preloaded in advance). This reduces page load speeds for your site visitors.  Its more interactive & fun and still gets your corporate  message or brochure content across effectively. Readers respond well to this form of presentation and you may find that messages that would otherwise be lost in a PDF presentation are retained due to the fun element flip books offer.

Don’t confuse fun with useless however! Many companies are looking for ways to reduce costs and promote their green credentials, both PDF’s and Flip books will potentially reduce your paper marketing costs dramatically, but the flip book will add an edge that a straight PDF will struggle to match.

You might even want to consider having a series of flip books for all your company brochures & leaflets and direct people to your website (where the flip books are located) instead of sending them in the post or handing them out at exhibitions etc.

Make a point of difference over your competitors and add green credibility at the same time as saving money.

Here are some of the benefits that a flip book system can offer you:

• Get published data available more quickly than traditional print
• Save money on reprints & postage for direct mail campaigns
• Email links to your flip books in campaigns
• Get analytics for readership
• You can save days of time with a flip book publication by not having to get the document print ready
• They are very cost-effective to install onto your website

At Dzined we can offer you a choice of flip books from different suppliers but they all have similar main features so finding the perfect one for your business should be a breeze!

Call us on 01992 350066 or email sales@dzined.co.uk for your free quote today.

We can send you an example of a working flip book from one of your own PDF files on request.

Now there will be thousands of reasons why this might happen but there are some common factors that seem to run through all of the businesses who seem to somehow sail through business life, much more easily than others.

So why is this?

Well as mentioned earlier, there are a lot of reasons but I just want to focus on one here. You may find it surprising to learn that most businesses don’t have a marketing plan or structure within their business for obtaining new customers and then keeping them happy afterwards.

Sound obvious doesn’t it that if you are in business you would set out to find and then keep customers but in the “real world” that seems to get overlooked. It often happens because the owner (who is usually the driver of the business) is too busy running the place day-to-day. But there is a VAST difference between being BUSY and being PRODUCTIVE.

Here is how a “typical” business will operate to reach out to new customers.

1. Start the business
2. Place an ad in Yellow Pages (or now Yell.com)
3. Place ads in local press
4. Maybe send out a flyer telling the world they are open
5. Get a website launched – Maybe just a Facebook Page.

Now that’s not fundamentally wrong as such, but it is a bit “hit & hope” because if no customers come in one week, there is no system for expanding the reach of the business to gain new customers, and there is certainly no forethought to staying in touch with existing customers after the sale and getting them to buy again.

This is where a marketing plan or plan to acquire and keep new customers makes the difference between struggle and success.

The most successful and profitable businesses know that if they can reach out to new people every day then they will always have a stream of new business coming in. If the system is automated as much as possible, then that’s better still, because it runs on autopilot the whole time.

Now if all this sounds both too easy and far too difficult at the same time, don’t worry because it really isn’t and absolutely anyone can do it.

In principle it works like this. Instead of just “doing some advertising” which is what normally happens, actually test what works on a small and affordable scale and add this tested method into your marketing mix along with the next successful tactic for YOUR business. That’s the real key here – YOUR BUSINESS. You have to trial things in your business specifically.

If you trial a new method of marketing on a small scale initially and see how it works, then as long as you get a profitable response, you can say with reasonable certainty that doing a larger scale version will work proportionally too.

Example:

If you send out a mailing to households, try sending just (say)1000 first and see what response you get. If you sent just 1000 you might get 25 sales or leads from it. That might seem low but it does indicate that the results have a scalability about them. So if you sent 5000 you can reasonably expect around 5 x 25 responses. So with some statistical certainty, you will get around 100 – 150 depending on who you send the mailing to.

If however you send 1000 and get 1 response, thats NOT the method for you so don’t throw good money after bad by sending 5000.

The idea that you can try things out that aren’t the list we started out with (above in the “standard” business model) extends to every business and what ever you may read or hear, nobody knows the outcome of any marketing method without trialling it. Don’t go in big, do a small trial of any idea first so it doesn’t break the bank and then if it works, do it on an affordably large scale.

If you can set up a trial of one method each month and say 1 in 2 is profitable, that means that after a year you will have 6 proven ways of getting your business to talk to your customers profitably. You can continue with the trials forever – so have fun!

So thats the first step. What next?

Obviously you can keep trialling new things and if (say) direct mail did work, you can start to play with different parts of the mailer. The most obvious one is the headline, but the content, the included materials with the mailer, the offers you make can all have an effect.

So if you want to try this, sit down and draw up around 12 different things to try out on a small group of customers and set up a trial once a month for the next year. Start NOW and in a year you’ll start a journey that will take you where you want to be.

Aftercare:

Once you have spent all that time and effort getting a new customer, it surely makes sense to sell to them again. This is where so many businesses fall down – bigger retailers tend to do the worst job ironically, but it applies to the vast majority of businesses sadly.

People who have bought from you are the easieast to sell to again – and the cheapest. So just as you did to obtain a new customer, you should develop a series of further products or services tha you can sell to existing clients.

So it’s all about the follow up you do. The hard way to run a business is to find as many new customers as you can then forget about them!  The smart way is to nurture your relationship with your client base and get them to buy from you again and again. Look at supermarkets. They will sell you a loaf of bread, a gallon of petrol and your gas & electricity as soon as look at you! Love them or hate them, they do a brilliant job at marketing AND they follow up.

For our part, we offer any business first class website design, graphic design, money saving printing services along with customised marketing help and advice. Join our mailing list & we’ll send you items & offers that we feel will benefit you – automatically. We have relationships with other businesses where we get referrals for new business and will pass new business back to them in the same way.

Would you like to develop a marketing plan?

We work with any business to enable them to develop and grow their business, even in a recession.

If you would like to know more about how to run your business more profitably and more easily than you thought possible, give dzined a call now on 01992 350066 or email sales@dzined.co.uk

The Sale to end all Sales!

Have you been tempted to drop your prices in the last 12 – 18 months?  It’s very common for business owners to suddenly panic when the economy takes a downturn and think that the only way they will keep sales coming in, is to be the cheapest on the high street (or the internet) and then end up in a” race to the bottom” price war.

This is a common reaction unfortunately and also an understandable reaction – after all, there’s no money about right?

Well, there is no doubt that the economy has gone through turmoil recently, there is also no doubt that some people have been affected by the downturn, but the plain fact of the matter is that the majority have not. Even if you assume that 20% of people are unemployed, then 80% are not.

However, what happens is that people’s behaviour and spending patterns do change when there is so much uncertainty around. What people actually crave is certainty in an uncertain world and once you start to reduce prices, you start a cycle of uncertainty that could spiral out of control.

So what happens when you start discounting as a marketing strategy, or even a response to competition?

You introduce uncertainty with your customer base. It’s the same thing with negative inflation (or deflation) because if your customers buy from you today, then it might be cheaper tomorrow. So where’s the incentive to buy today?  Gone. Along with your profits!

Another less obvious side effect of  discounting is that it attracts a disloyal customer base and usually the lowest price customers are the ones who complain the most and are the most difficult to service long-term. You can also get a reputation of being “cheap” which will ultimately damage your brand and perception in the marketplace.

Look how much extra you’ll have to sell by discounting

So you might be discounting, but how much extra will you have to sell just to get back to where you started?  Do you actually have the figures all costed out BEFORE you start your “sale” or do you just cut the price & hope for the best?

Here’s an illustration of why you might NOT want to discount as it relates to your profit and turnover.

The following assumptions have been made for this example- Your profit margin is 35% and  you are not VAT registered. Some businesses will vary of course but the maths will still be similar.

Non Discounted price.

By selling at full price,  every £100 sale achieves £35 profit  or 35%.

Selling at a 10% Discount

Adding a 10% discount means revenue of £90 but the cost is still £65, so you now only make £25 profit or 27.8%.

To put it another way – you will have to sell 1.4 times as many items to make the same amount of profit compared to selling 1 item at the non-discounted price.

Selling at 20% discount

Adding a 20% discount means revenue of £80 but the cost is still £65, so you now only make £15 profit or 18.8%.

Now you will have to sell 2.3 times items to make the same amount of profit compared to selling 1 item at the non-discounted price!!!

So how can you set your business up so that your customers are happy to pay full price and still come back for more?

That’s where you need to develop a marketing plan. This is your way of positioning your business in the marketplace and making sure that your existing customers and your future customers fully understand the value that you offer. You will also add back that missing ingredient – certainty. Without knowing precisely (and certainly) how they are going to benefit from dealing with you or your business, you will struggle to compete in what appears a shrinking market place.

If you develop a marketing plan that clearly sets your stall out as the place to go for quality and value, and if you back everything up in your marketing literature, your website, your emails and any other point of contact with your clients, then you will be able to command higher prices than your competitors. In fact if you do it right you can even have a price rise and still manage to get new customers.

We specialise in developing marketing strategies for business and have helped many businesses develop a successful marketing plan.

We can help you improve your business profits in the same way, so please call us on 01992 350066, Skype DZINEDMAIN or email sales@dzined.co.uk.

Do it now and start a new profit strategy for your business. It’s free and you can walk away afterwards if you wish – make the call.

All limited company stationery (i.e. letterheads, invoices, delivery notes etc) must clearly show all the following information:

Certain things like individual business cards and compliment slips may be exempt but we would recommend that you consider adding registration numbers & addresses to everything.

• The full registered name of the company including the word limited or its abbreviation ltd (or equivalent for a PLC or LLP)

• A statement of where the company is registered. Such as registered in England or registered in England & Wales etc.

• The company registration number

• The registered office address, make it clear if the head office address is different to the main trading address or addresses.
• If your registered office and trading address are in the same place just list that address. You don’t have to draw the distinction between the two unless they are at different locations.
• You don’t have to list the names of the directors, but if you show one, then you will have to list all the directors names together. It’s all or nothing!
• The company VAT number if you are VAT registered

• Company cheques must show the word limited or ltd. If you don’t get your bank to do this then the person who signs the cheque is then personally liable for tha amount if it is returned unpaid by your bank.

Rules for displaying information on your website(s)

These same rules apply on websites too. Display of the correct company head office and trading outlet addresses must also be clearly displayed on your web site(s) or those operated by the company if it has a different web trading name.  If you don’t do this, you open up the company director(s) to possible prosecution and/or personal liability in respect of certain dealings and transactions.

Basically be honest & upfront at all times.

Do you need business stationery?

We have some cracking deals on business stationery on our website, click here to see the latest prices & place an order.

*This information is correct as at June 2011 – please refer to either the companies house website or direct.gov.uk

Well the answer is NO – YOU DON’T!!

These type of letters are not actually scams as such because they are offering a genuine service. But they are charging you 10 – 20 times as much as you need to pay for the majority of domain name renewals.

What you need to know about domain name registration.

Just for clarity a domain name means www.yourwebsitename.com or www.yourwebsite.co.uk.  There are loads of variants which end in all sorts of things like .tv, .net, .info or .uk.com etc. but they are all domain names.

Some facts about domain website domain names and registration of a domain name to use for 1 – 10 years at a time.

1. ANYONE - And that means ANYONE can do it for you.  You absolutely DO NOT need to pay someone $75 or more to do it for you!
2. You never “own” a domain name, you only ever rent it. That’s why it is renewed at certain times.
3. You will need to register each domain name through a registrant like 123-reg or any one of the others available.
4. Each domain name type (e.g. .com or .org etc) has its own price structure to renew. Sometimes special offers are available as well like domains for £0.99p.
5. You can register domain names for between 1 and 10 years at a time (.uk domains for 2 years at a time only)
6. You can have as many domain names as you want
7. You can register absolutely anything as a domain name as long as it isn’t already registered
8. A domain name called www.abcwidgets.co.uk (say) can be used by company A to build a website but a domain name www.abcwidgets.com could be a totally different company – even a direct competitor to company A. For this reason we recommend you buy ALL the domain name extensions related to your business. It’s more secure for you that way.
9. You don’t have to use a domain name just because you have registered it. Some people “bank” domain names and sell them on to others if they turn out to be desirable in the future.  Also it blocks competitors using the name against you with a different domain extension (see point 8).
10. Domain names can be used to build websites or run emails. You don’t necessarily have to have a website just because you have a domain name, it may just be used as a “hosted email” solution.

If you can’t sleep and want the full chapter & verse on .uk domain names, visit the  nominet website which is a good resource.

Conclusion

If you receive a letter in the mail telling you that your domain name is up for renewal, have a look at this quick reference chart below to see if what they are charging you is anywhere near what you should be paying. Then bin the letter unless you know for sure that you are about to pay the right price.

We use this scale of charges for any client that we look after so you always know you’re paying the right price for your domain renewals.  Please don’t fall foul of people who are usually taking advantage of what is (sadly) widespread uncertainty about the cost of website domain name renewal fees.

If all else fails, call Dzined on 01992 350066 and check!

Typical minimum charges for domain name renewals. These can vary with the volume you buy & the registrant company.

• .co.uk domains – £7.00 + VAT for 2 years
• .com domains – £10.00 + VAT for 1 year
• .org domains – £10.00 + VAT for 1 year
• .net domains – £10.00 + VAT for 1 year
• .info domains – £10.00 + VAT for 1 year
• .biz domains – £10.00 + VAT for 1 year
• .uk.com domains – £70.00 + VAT for 2 years
• .org.uk domains – £7.00 + VAT for 2 years

There are dozens more extensions available from countries all over the world and new ones are released periodically – a bit like cherished number plates from DVLA, but these are the most commonly used ones in the UK.

Can you imagine being a Spanish salad grower right now?  In the midst of the recession, just getting clear of a banking crisis in Europe, EU financial bailouts for other EC member states and now the great cucumber disaster of 2011! Truly No Joke.

Pack your case – we’re giving up.

That’s what you could be forgiven for thinking if you just take your inspiration for being in business from the media. Now nobody is denying that there is a serious outbreak of food poisoning linked to Germany or that there are some economic hardships going on.

However not everybody is unemployed and not everybody is ill (thank heavens).

So what’s the point of this article?

If you just listen to media reports (that includes papers, radio, TV & online reports of all types) on the state of the world, then you could be forgiven for shutting up shop & going to the pub. BUT, in reality, if you go to a major supermarket on a Saturday afternoon it will be packed. If you go to a major shopping centre on a wet Wednesday it will still have people shopping. All of this in the week the world ended?!

The media LOVES to exaggerate problems, then find two or more parties to fight it out so they can fill their airtime or copy space. But that’s not what’s really happening in your town and every other town.

In the real world the majority of people have jobs, they have an income and they are still buying stuff. That’s why the shops are full on a saturday & you can never find a parking space in a supermarket!

If you believe all you hear about the state of the economy then you will stop spending money on your own marketing. Then guess what happens? Your customer flow slows down.  So you conclude that the media was right after all and the pub looks even more alluring.

This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy – why market when people aren’t buying? I know, I’ll stop marketing – that’ll fix it!

Here’s what you need to know.

In a recession (or just periods of uncertainty), people don’t STOP spending, but they do become a LOT more careful about WHEN & WHERE they spend their money. Their buying behaviour clearly changes until the good times return.

So your adverts & marketing should stress the VALUE of your offers which is NOT the same as being cheap.

People don’t buy on price alone even though both you and they actually think they do.  Next time someone tries to get you into a race to the bottom, ask this simple question.

“When you are buying something, do you always look for the absolute cheapest possible price you can find or do you buy something that offers you the best quality and value for money?”

See what they say.

Almost nobody will admit to wanting to buy the absolute cheapest thing, but they do want value for money. If you pay too little for something then you end up buying something unfit for purpose. If you buy a quality product then it will last longer, perform better and save money overall.

So think about what your current marketing materials offer. Are you a race to the bottom, cheapest deal type or a best value for money on the high street type?

Offering added value will always win over low prices simply because you have to sell so much more “cheap” stuff to make your money and people will probably only buy once.  Value added marketing will always win the day and also attract more satisfied and more loyal customers.

If you would like help in planning your marketing then either join our mailing list and get free tips & updates on a regular basis or call us for free and impartial chat. Any business, any sector & any size.

Call dzined now on 01992 350066, 0844 357 4539 or skype dzinedmain.  You can also email us on sales@dzined.co.uk

Thanks for reading and we’ll speak soon.