One of the biggest battles in the search for business is getting your website found on the internet – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Pay per Click (PPC). You may be thinking that this is another article about SEO and if you were you will be forgiven for thinking this, but it’s not at all…

SEO is a vital part of your online business, but it is not where it ends! Let me explain further…

People only buy when they:

1. Know your company;
2. Like what they see, and;
3. Trust you or your company.

So once you have spent your money attracting people to your website, you now need to direct your attention to converting those prospects into paying customers by working on the above list, so how do you do this?

One way to get them to know your company or the products you sell is to offer free or very low cost options, so they can either try before they buy or not have to spend too much to find out if your service works. With thousands of scams and get rich quick schemes out there, people are quite rightly very cautious when buying from an unknown website on the Internet, so you need to help them break down that brick wall that stands between them and you or at least begin to remove some of those bricks from that wall.

It takes multiples of marketing cash to convert a prospect into a customer compared to the amount it takes to convert an existing customer into a returning customer. This is why it is important to get your visitors to experience your products so they not only get to know the products, but also how your business operates. Doing it this way will make the purchase decisions much easier and any initial objections they may have had will begin to disappear – brick by brick!

It will be a stage by stage process from your free or cheaper products through to your more expensive products. Obviously, not all customers can afford the more expensive items and possible will not even need or want them, but where they do it is important for them to know and trust you before they purchase.

If you imagine a funnel and you are feeding prospective customers into the top along with your spend on SEO and PPC etc, with the hope that you get trusting and satisfied customers out at the bottom along with the cash they spend on your products and services. You will need to attract a huge number of potential customers in at the top end, to gradually develop their trust in you and your products and services so that they end up coming out at the bottom of the funnel spending cash with you.

When you have enough happy customers ask for testimonials, as these are extremely powerful in helping to convert other potential customer into a paying customer!

Other free offerings in addition to your existing products include: Ezines; E-books, Webinars and special reports, with the idea being to entice your prospects along with giving them confidence in what you do. You could also try to produce an audio or video for your customers to watch online or to download for free so they can see that you are an ‘actual person’ or that actual people exist in your business.

Videos are a great way to introduce you and to explain your products or services to prospective customers. These videos also provide an opportunity for you to demonstrate your expertise in your field. Also, don’t forget that for a prospects to receive your free products or services, they will have to provide you with their contact details, name and email address for example, so that you can contact them again and again – but don’t pester people unnecessarily!

It is important to recognise that people are different and as a result people will have different preferences as to how they would prefer to receive information. This preference might be to have a free version of your product to download or for them to read a free report. Other prospects might prefer to listen to the same material as an audio track or to watch a video presentation, all of which should be downloadable so that they can listen or watch them in their own time.

Once your prospects have experienced your expertise and have sampled your products and start to know, like, and trust you, they are more likely to open their wallets and spend more money on your services and products.

It’s in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped!

Choose Now. Choose Well.  - Tony Robins

Tony Robbins “How Great I Am” “Powerful beyond Measure! “

Dare to be great!

Dare to be powerful beyond measure!

Have a great day and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Tony Robins for this great gift – play it again and again and listen to the message – take control of your life and realise that the decisions YOU make will shape your life every step of the way…good luck.

As we have seen in the news, since the credit crisis and the collapse of Icelandic banks, that voters in Iceland have overwhelmingly rejected proposals to pay the UK and the Netherlands in the wake of the collapse of the Icesave bank – in fact with just one third of results counted, 93% of voters said “No” in a referendum!

As a result of the credit crisis and the collapse of the banking system, governments around the world pumped billions into the system to prevent complete melt-down. The British and Dutch governments paid compensation of £3.4 Billion (€3.8 Billion; $5.2 Billion) to customers directly affected as a result of the collapse of Icesave bank and are seeking reimbursement from Iceland for this.

It is right (perhaps?) that the Iceland Government have sought the views of Icelanders (perhaps our own government should have doe the same with us before doing the bail-outs they did!) before making any such reimbursement, but are they being short sighted?

Are the Icelandic people not seeing the bigger picture and will their economy become a wasteland where no world economy will risk investing again? The world economy is a small place these days and works as if it were one, which is more apparent today than it has ever been before.

With the advent of the Internet and with world economies being highly inter-dependent it is vital for economies to recognise how they could quite easily become black listed for what could be deemed to be ‘Bad Trading’. For example, would you lend to someone a second time when they had reneged on a deal or failed to repay a loan the first time? It is important to recognise that the Iceland government is not contractually due to pay the £3.4 Billion, but perhaps morally it is and if it wants to be taken seriously in the financial world economy again then the Icelandic government needs to take responsibility for the actions of the bank that failed on their own shores.

It is important for Icelanders to recognise that the Iceland economy benefited hugely from the positive effects of the boom times, but appear to be unwilling to payout when times are tough. They are not willing to put their hands in the pockets that were lined from profits made as a result of people believing in their banks when things were good, to help out the governments of the countries that helped them line their pockets in the first place.

Sometimes a failure can become an opportunity!

Let me explain…I have a number of properties across the UK and one of which is in a seaside town. Up to a year ago I had been renting it out as a buy to let and then the market seemed to turn. I’m not sure whether it was due to the agent or that there were no tenants around, but the property sat on the market for several months.

This was quite frustrating I will say because, as a property owner, there is nothing worse than having an empty property, so something had to be done. I will admit that it was my partner’s suggestion to venture down the holiday letting route, which is what I did.

The funny thing was, the first company I approached, which was by recommendation, they said they would not take my property on, as it was in the wrong area for them!

Not put off by this I made steps to find another holiday letting company and chose the one I am using now due to a good Google ranking – I thought if I can find them easily on the Internet then others would too. They met me at the property and we went through what each room should have in it in terms of furniture and what remedial things needed to be done in order to suit a holiday letting.

I then proceeded to spend somewhere between £5,000 to £10,000 on furniture and fixings. At this stage I this property had been vacant on the market for what had now become eight months. I wanted to catch the very fast approaching summer season, being that it was now mid May. This I did and the property was let out constantly for the whole of July and August and then since has been let extremely well with the current year looking very good too.

So the message in this article is that by thinking sideways and not accepting a failure and being prepared to spend a bit of time and money will see you through in the end.

“Courage is doing what you’re afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you’re scared.”

Eddie Rickenbacker
World War I hero

Most business owners still ‘Work in’ their businesses when instead they should be aiming towards ‘Working on’ them.

So what is ‘Working In’ a business?

‘Working In’ a business is when the owner is doing the day-to-day stuff that the staff should be doing, or put another way, if the staff are not doing it or do not have the time then they should be or higher more staff.

If you are getting involved in speaking with customers, answering the telephone, raising the invoices, paying the bills and other work within the business then you are not being efficient with your time.

What is ‘Working On’ a business?

‘Working On’ a business is when you get involved in the business planning and strategy behind what your company is all about. It is about planning where the company is heading and essentially relates to the ‘Bigger Picture’. As a business owner you should be looking at whether or not you expand the business organically or by acquisition; How you go about increasing business value; and on the overall business strategy for growth.

Creating business value

Where business owners stop working in the business and focus on the strategy, the business will become more valuable as a result. A business that is less dependent upon the owner for the day-to-day operations is far more attractive to investors and more likely to sell; you will have more potential business buyers interested in your company.

Cash flow forecasting is made easy with Bowraven’s Cash flow forecast software.

Good cash flow is the key to a ‘Companies Health’ and it is the ‘Life Blood’ of all businesses.

Planning and forecasting what will happen and when it will happen is tantamount to a successfully run business, so having the tools to optimise those cash flows and being able to forecast cash flow and to run ‘What if’ scenarios with your ‘Cashflow Projections’ is key.

Having easy to use cash flow forecast software is a necessary tool for business owners and for accountants working on behalf of their client to produce professional cash flow reports.

When making decisions about how to optimise future cash flows, having well prepared cash flow forecasts to review and present to your management or to investors or the bank where your business is looking to raise finance, is a must.

Bowraven’s Financial Forecasting Software is known for its ease of use and it takes the hassle out of preparing essential cash flow forecasts. Our software will save you time, help you to get it right and avoid the need to create Excel cash flow forecast spreadsheets from scratch. Use our Cash Flow System to beat your cash flow crisis and to produce a cash flow forecast in minutes.

This Cash Flow Forecasting Software provides the solution for your business to prepare one to seven-year cash flow forecasts with professional looking reports.

Increase Profit Software Designed For Increasing Profits for Business and in turn Business Value.

Every business owner would like to ‘ Increase Profit‘ and I often get asked by small business owners ‘How do I grow my business?’ and ‘How do I increase business value?’

Normally increased profits go hand-in-hand with higher business value, as a more profitable business becomes much more desirable. However, before a company can begin increasing profits the owners need to identify how they are going to do it.

With this in mind Bowraven’s Profit Increase Software is designed to identify ways to bring in extra revenues, increase profit margins and to extract additional revenues from existing customers, instead of what most businesses do, which is to focus on getting new customers.

Understanding the ‘7 Ways to Grow a Business’ and on knowing how to identify Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) are the keys to business success. When you invest in Profit Increase Software the accompanying book explains the 7-ways to grow any business and will help you to understand Key Performance Indicators, which are measures commonly used to help an organisation define and evaluate how successful it is.

Business is about investing and getting a return on that investment. Any business that has invested in and used Increase Profit Software has had that investment returned in multiples of hundreds, but more likely by thousand’s of per cent. Increase Profit Software identifies the areas of profit improvement and targets the 7 Ways to Grow Your Business.

Once these have been identified you can focus on how to increase profits and on KPI Measurement and then on KPI performance. Increase Profit Software is designed to identify the areas of your business that are sensitive to adjustment and hence key to growing your business and its profitability. Increased profits combined with excellent cash flow will in turn increase cash in the bank.

There is certainly some very good data coming though at present albeit combined with some not so good news, so things are looking good for the UK economy.

I read today that the manufacturing sector grew last month at the strongest rate for 15 years – and Mr Noble (chief executive at the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply) said:

“Companies reported that higher demand from export markets wasn’t just on the back of the softer sterling but also improving global market conditions. Meanwhile there were mentions that many production lines, which ground to a halt at the height of the recession, kicked into action again. Good news was also reported on the job front as firms – mainly SMEs – hired staff for the second consecutive month in line with increased levels of production.”

So now is a good time to start looking at either setting up in business or buying one, as the outlook is on the up and yet interest rates are still relatively low. I appreciate that it is not so easy to get bank lending right now, but so long as you have a good solid proposition backed up by a good business plan and sound cash flow forecasts you should still get a loan.

There are conflicting stories out there right now about where the world economies are going – with the latest news saying that ‘World Trade Drops the Most since 1945!‘.

So in the light of scary news like this what do you do if you are considering going into business?

If you look around there are many business doing well, thank you very much, in the present recession – for example Dominos Pizzas, see their sales soar!

So the answer is that there is no good or bad time to set up in business, but there is a good or a bad or perhaps not so good business to set up. So select your business carefully and go about it in the right way. There is no time like right now to set up that business dream of yours and go for it.

My very first business I set up was in the middle of the 1990 recession and I survived – so I am sure you can too.