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.

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

Eddie Rickenbacker
World War I hero

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.

If you are considering the pros and cons of work against running your own business this article is directed at you.

Having a job gives you the guarantee that you receive your salary at the end of each month and in most cases you can leave the job when you walk away each evening and unless you are in management or have a job that requires working at weekends, you should have your weekends free too.

However, if you own a business then it is not always certain there will be profits there to pay your salary or dividend and it is very hard to close the door each evening without taking the business home with you.

The rewards of having a business far out weigh those of a job and not least because you own an asset, whereas if you stop working at your job your income ceases. If you decide to stop working at your business your income will continue and you will have the asset to sell too.

In one of my businesses we have just set up a new employee bonus to the management team and this has been well received.

The title of this post was to emphasise a ‘Bias’ towards a bonus rather than fixed salary to your staffs - I would recommend this as a recession beating tool.

I was not sure how the team would take it, but they were over the moon and thank us for being so generous, which is interesting because by giving them a bonus (which was a percent of gross profit) they were focused on growing the business, which would benefit me anyway.

The psychology of giving a bonus instead of a salary rise is an interesting one and should be embraced by more business owners, especially in the present economic climate. Employees might still be looking for a pay rise despite problems and things being tough, so instead of giving them a fixed pay rise which would represent yet more fixed cost to your business, give them a reward that benefits them when the business benefits.

Of course this was only announced today, so I cannot report on how well this will go and to what extent it will affect my business going forward, but if the reaction I received today is anything to go by then I expect positive results.

If your business is struggling and you cannot afford to pay your staff higher salaries, then by replacing salary hikes with a bonus scheme the employees will not be paid unless things improve. So by definition you will be paying the extra salary out of extra profits. I recommend a ‘No-Cap’ bonus, which means that it is open ended so no matter how much they increase the profits the staff get paid a percent of every part of the increase.

If you have a business you will know how important it is to get press releases out there on the Internet.

A press release is an article witter about your business that will provide information to potential customers as well as existing customers to help them decide on whether to buy from you.

Getting a press release out there will also help in getting links back to your own website be it for traffic purposes or for Google page rank reasons – either or both are good.

In-business has a business forum on which has a press release section for businesses on the internet to post articles about their own business for FREE.

So if you want to post your own business press release click this link.

ENTREPRENEURS looking for corporate ‘bargains’ over the festive season have been in luck as thousands of businesses are up for sale across the UK.

Those with ready money have been able to pick up businesses cheaply from specialist brokers and listing agents.

Business Sale Report, a leading listing service, has seen a 30 per cent rise in the number of owners advertising in December compared with November. Director Robert Moore says in addition to sales of distressed businesses, entrepreneurs who previously held back because the market had been depressed are now selling.

‘If you have cash and are able to move quickly, it’s a good time,’ he says. ‘Any business where it is easy to see future cash flow is in demand.’

Christopher Jones of business broker Sunbelt says there are lots of buyers in the market looking for the right opportunities. ‘We’re seeing buyers coming out of the corporate world looking for cash flow,’ he says. ‘There are also strategic buyers, picking up equipment.’

Kevin Uphill, managing director of business broker Avondale, says: ‘Buyers are there. After all, where do people put their cash now?’

Buyers can also try to negotiate lower rents and cheaper loans. The Government is pressing banks to lend to small firms and buyers are even finding it possible to borrow from the vendors through deferred payments.

But alongside the festive crackers there are some real turkeys with hidden problems. ‘ There are opportunities, but you have to be pretty savvy,’ says Moore.

Buying a business that has already gone into administration is fraught with difficulties as the administrator must realise funds quickly, putting a tight deadline on deals. Buyers also have to question whether a business will withstand the departure of the owner, who is often the founder.

Uphill says: ‘ The biggest single issue is the quality of the information on smaller firms – without visibility, there are high risks. There are real opportunities but if you cannot see the risks, don’t touch it.’

Many of the potential buyers are first-timers, says Jones. But this market is also proving attractive for existing businesses that are seeking to increase their market share.

Chartered accountant Russell Bowyer, 47, from Linton, Cambridgeshire, is convinced that doing deals in a recession is a good idea and he is negotiating to invest in Deep Clean, a nationwide cleaning firm that specialises in commercial kitchens.

Bowyer has a long record of business ownership, albeit in the care and accounting sectors, and he has been looking to expand his portfolio for some time.

He believes Deep Clean fits the bill because insurers require all commercial kitchens to be cleaned. There is competition, of course, but Bowyer says: ‘There is a good market.’

Bowyer, who is a client of Sunbelt, adds: ‘There are thousands of businesses for sale and far fewer buyers.

‘Interest rates are also lower so, in theory, you can get cheap money. If you buy in a boom, there is more competition from other buyers and interest rates are higher.’

Copyright over this article belongs to The Mail on Sunday

Honesty in business is as it is in life and a must and extremely important.

If you are about to sell your business or if you are in the middle of selling it then make sure you are honest from the outset…not only with the broker, if you are using one, but also with potential buyers.

If you tell lies at the outset or during the initial stages then it is very likely this will be found out at the due diligence stage of the selling process. The problem with telling lies is that if they get found out you may put off potential buyers and lose their trust.

Put yourself in the shoes of a buyer and you will know that they will feel both stressed and worried about the whole process. Don’t make it worse for them by putting any element of doubt in their mind…they may be thinking if you are lying about one thing you might be covering up any number of other things and they may well walk away from the deal.

I remember going to look at a business which was being advertised as turning over around £8,000 per week, when in fact it was only turning over around £4-5,000 per week. Admittedly, at some point in the past this business had been doing this level of turnover and more, but the broker had not bothered to update their advert. This then wasted my time and their time in looking at a business which was highly over valued.

Always remember that with the majority of business sales that it is a ‘Buyers Market’ and rarely is it a ‘Sellers Market’ – which means that when you have a buyer on the hook, as it were, you want to play them well and nurture the whole business sales process from start to finish.

Article by Russell Bowyer