I've been spending part of the last week on promoting a new local business, Flatpack Suffolk, who assemble flat pack items in your home or office, including furniture, equipment and small garden buildings.
The brief was simple - "Free or very cheap"!
That makes it very pleasing to be able to point to a website on page two of Google and two or three mentions of Flatpack Suffolk on page one, depending on the exact search term and the vagaries of Google's personal results pages.
This has been done with a blogger-based website (meaning it has ten indexed pages, as well as the standard blog), some local directory submissions, and Flatpack Suffolk also has accounts on Twitter and Facebook. You'll probably notice that all those things are free.
You can do this too. When a new local business can start to build such an obvious presence in less than a week, why do so many local businesses have no Internet presence at all?
There's a lot more to online marketing for business than your website - online marketing in 2011 is all about the size and effectiveness of your online presence, using every means at your disposal.
If you need help with any of that - expertise, training or hands-on help, contact an online marketing specialist like Cinnamon Edge. .
Roy
Email me roy@cinnamonedge.co.uk or call us on 01284 753912 to discuss your needs.
Friday 26 August 2011
Tuesday 16 August 2011
Why Running a Business Without Marketing is Like Riding Without Lights
You might know I'm quite a keen cyclist as well as a marketing consultant and trainer for local businesses, and it occured to me this morning that running a business without effective marketing is like riding a bike without lights:
You know you’re there and your fellow cyclists might know you're there – but there’s a real risk you’ll get mown down by a driver who ‘just didn’t see you’.
Hopefully, your business' lack of visibility won’t be so disastrous, but it could still be fatal if your potential customers just don't see you.
This means you don’t just need to be visible: you need to be highly visible, day-glo visible, even fluorescent clothes with flashing lights visible. Lycra is optional.
Then at least everyone, including your potential customers, can see you. Whether they’ll appreciate your fashion sense or not, at least they won’t be able to say they didn’t know you were there!
Roy
PS. Give your business the florescent lycra with flashing lights visibility it needs with Cinnamon Edge.
You know you’re there and your fellow cyclists might know you're there – but there’s a real risk you’ll get mown down by a driver who ‘just didn’t see you’.
Hopefully, your business' lack of visibility won’t be so disastrous, but it could still be fatal if your potential customers just don't see you.
This means you don’t just need to be visible: you need to be highly visible, day-glo visible, even fluorescent clothes with flashing lights visible. Lycra is optional.
Then at least everyone, including your potential customers, can see you. Whether they’ll appreciate your fashion sense or not, at least they won’t be able to say they didn’t know you were there!
Roy
PS. Give your business the florescent lycra with flashing lights visibility it needs with Cinnamon Edge.
Sunday 14 August 2011
Helping Local Business Helps Local Communities
Events of the last week or so caught most of us by surprise, not least Jacqui and me, because we were away from home and knew nothing about the unfolding story for several days.
While some people have been quick to give their opinions and explanations for the riots and looting, it’s clear that the reasons behind them are complicated and there can be no one easy solution.
One thing is certain, though: loss of hope, belief and ambition has a disastrous effect on many people’s lives and some people’s behaviour is a reflection of their frustration and anger. The comments of some of those involved reflect a horrifying level of disengagement from their own communities, however much they use the word ‘community’ to explain their own involvement in the violence and destruction.
This ‘them against us’ attitude is a warning to all of us. However misguided we might think they are, if their perception is that they are in some sense fighting for ordinary people against ‘rich business owners’, we must listen, because it’s that perception that drives their behaviour.
However, it was ordinary people who died defending their families’ and friends’ businesses against the looters and arsonists, and it was ordinary people who lost their homes and livelihoods. Chain store owners (the real ‘rich business owners’) weren’t affected nearly as much in comparison.
But we need to help the rioters and their apologists to see this, and we can.
First, we need them to see the damage they have done, then we must give them the hope and belief they need that they can share in the wealth of what is still, in global terms, a prosperous country with wonderful opportunities.
It has to start at a local level, by local businesses being helped and encouraged to prosper and to employ local people and spend money in the local economy. The more local businesses prosper the more the local community benefits.
The attitude that all commerce is corrupt and all business owners are rich and undeserving has been promoted for far too long. Businesses create jobs, wealth and security.
There’s more to life than possessions and more to wealth than money but the more people can share in local prosperity the more involved, secure and optimistic we can all feel.
I don’t make any philanthropic claims for what we do to help local businesses (although I am proud to have contributed a little to Crack on’s success so far) but I am more certain than ever that what we do has a real value, not just to business owners but to the communities they serve and support.
Roy
PS. Meanwhile, Crack on and their friends at Pay it Forward in Business are doing great things to give immediate help to those affected by the riots and to give hope to the young people who might easily be involved.
While some people have been quick to give their opinions and explanations for the riots and looting, it’s clear that the reasons behind them are complicated and there can be no one easy solution.
One thing is certain, though: loss of hope, belief and ambition has a disastrous effect on many people’s lives and some people’s behaviour is a reflection of their frustration and anger. The comments of some of those involved reflect a horrifying level of disengagement from their own communities, however much they use the word ‘community’ to explain their own involvement in the violence and destruction.
This ‘them against us’ attitude is a warning to all of us. However misguided we might think they are, if their perception is that they are in some sense fighting for ordinary people against ‘rich business owners’, we must listen, because it’s that perception that drives their behaviour.
However, it was ordinary people who died defending their families’ and friends’ businesses against the looters and arsonists, and it was ordinary people who lost their homes and livelihoods. Chain store owners (the real ‘rich business owners’) weren’t affected nearly as much in comparison.
But we need to help the rioters and their apologists to see this, and we can.
First, we need them to see the damage they have done, then we must give them the hope and belief they need that they can share in the wealth of what is still, in global terms, a prosperous country with wonderful opportunities.
It has to start at a local level, by local businesses being helped and encouraged to prosper and to employ local people and spend money in the local economy. The more local businesses prosper the more the local community benefits.
The attitude that all commerce is corrupt and all business owners are rich and undeserving has been promoted for far too long. Businesses create jobs, wealth and security.
There’s more to life than possessions and more to wealth than money but the more people can share in local prosperity the more involved, secure and optimistic we can all feel.
I don’t make any philanthropic claims for what we do to help local businesses (although I am proud to have contributed a little to Crack on’s success so far) but I am more certain than ever that what we do has a real value, not just to business owners but to the communities they serve and support.
Roy
PS. Meanwhile, Crack on and their friends at Pay it Forward in Business are doing great things to give immediate help to those affected by the riots and to give hope to the young people who might easily be involved.
Thursday 4 August 2011
Last Chance to Build a Seminar Business at This Price
I'll be relaunching my acclaimed seminar planning product Niche Seminar Secrets soon, and developing it into a much bigger product, probably including video tutorials, an associated website and more - obviously at a significantly higher price.
Before I do that, though, I wanted to give you a last chance to get the manual at the old price, AND to do something even more worthwhile:
We've all been shocked and dismayed by the news of yet more drought and famine in parts of Africa and I've decided to donate 75% of sales of NSS this month to the famine appeal.
For that reason there's no special discount or valuable bonuses, EXCEPT that all purchasers of Niche Seminar Secrets are entitled to updates of the manual as and when they happen. That's generally about every two years but with a new product already in the pipeline it could happen sooner.
The manual was updated in 2010, so it's as current as you need it to be, although it does still have an ugly cover! Since it's a downloadable pdf ebook I hardly think that will matter. It's still everything you need to start, build and profit from your own seminar business.
In preparation for the new edition I've moved the Clickbank-approved sales letter to the Seminar Secrets blog and you can buy it directly from there in a matter of minutes.
Of course, it's covered by Clickbank's guarantee but remember 75% of proceeds are going to the famine appeal. It's powerful stuff but only if you use it!
Roy
Before I do that, though, I wanted to give you a last chance to get the manual at the old price, AND to do something even more worthwhile:
We've all been shocked and dismayed by the news of yet more drought and famine in parts of Africa and I've decided to donate 75% of sales of NSS this month to the famine appeal.
For that reason there's no special discount or valuable bonuses, EXCEPT that all purchasers of Niche Seminar Secrets are entitled to updates of the manual as and when they happen. That's generally about every two years but with a new product already in the pipeline it could happen sooner.
The manual was updated in 2010, so it's as current as you need it to be, although it does still have an ugly cover! Since it's a downloadable pdf ebook I hardly think that will matter. It's still everything you need to start, build and profit from your own seminar business.
In preparation for the new edition I've moved the Clickbank-approved sales letter to the Seminar Secrets blog and you can buy it directly from there in a matter of minutes.
Of course, it's covered by Clickbank's guarantee but remember 75% of proceeds are going to the famine appeal. It's powerful stuff but only if you use it!
Roy
Tuesday 2 August 2011
Here's What That Looks Like
I talked a bit about 'online domination' a while back. You might have followed links to Cinnamon Edge to see what online domination looks like, but in case you didn't, here it is:
Look closely and you'll see how we managed to dominate Google's first page for 'search engine domination workshop' - very handy to show the delegates at our Search Engine Domination Workshop a day later!
Roy
Roy
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