Hide and Seek on the WWW

If you run a small business, hopefully you have realised the importance of having web presence. Internet connectivity continues to grow and at the same time, the use of the internet to search for products and services continues to grow as well.

Obviously, the importance of having a great website is paramount.

But what good is that amazing website if no-one finds it? About as useful as a great product or service that no-one buys.

If you are running a small business, you may have heard or read about Search Engine Optimization (SEO). If you do a Google search on SEO, you will probably come across any number of people who are trying to sell SEO services to you. Before you spend that money, please do some research on how it works and try it yourself.

By following a set of instructions, a mildly tech savvy business owner can climb the Google search ladder with relative ease - connecting your business to your clients.

I followed the steps listed on the link above and now this blog is found by Google Search! If I can do it, so can you.

Are you a pirate?

Not the gun-toting, eye patch wearing variety. I am referring to "white-collar" pirates, the kind with illegal software on their computers. The Business Software Alliance (BSA) estimates a piracy rate of 60% in the Middle East/Africa region and 59% in the Asia Pacific region. (Source) I would guess that the rate in small businesses could be far higher.

What is the risk to you? In South Africa, conviction in a criminal case could lead to a penalty of R5,000 and/or 3 years in prison for EACH illegal item for your first offence and that jumps to R10,000 and/or 5 years in prison thereafter (Source). In Australia, the maximum penalty for individuals is extremely high at $93,500 and/or 5 years in prison and for companies that amount jumps to $467,500! (Source)

That's just criminal proceedings, there could also be civil suits filed and we have not even considered the cost of a damaged reputation. The BSA is very serious in tracking down offenders and rewards are offered for information on defaulters - as much as R100,000 in SA and $5,000 in Australia.

So what do you do? Well software is quite expensive. Prohibitively so for some small business owners, and everyone needs to have Office, right? Well no, not really. What a lot of small business owners do not realise is that Office probably has far more features than they really need and there is a great new concept that the Google revolution has brought to end users. Free stuff!

Office productivity software from Google and OpenOffice may just meet your need and your budget. These are just two examples of such software, search for more. The only requirement to run the applications is that you have a good internet connection as most of these services operate on thin-client type technology, where the processing and data are not actually held on your computer.

These solutions would probably be just fine for most micro-businesses and would probably stand up to some small business requirements as well. Keep checking back as I look out for other freebie or low cost software that will suit your business.

The Fourth Estate

Some of the inspiration for this article comes from something I read by Graeme Codrington.

The responsibility of the press (in South Africa anyway) is laid out by the Press Code (I would imagine that a fairly similar set of standards prevails in most countries). The code requires journalism to present the news accurately and fairly, in context and in a balanced manner.

In any paper you pick up today, you will read that public confidence is extremely low due to the global financial crisis. Is this not a self-fulfilling prophecy? Follow my thinking :

1. Newspapers (for the most part) print only bad news about the current economic outlook.


2. People read this, public confidence dips.


3. They then interview their readership to discover *gasp* public confidence is low.


4. People read this, public confidence dips (even more).

I worry that a newspaper's first priority is to sell papers to make money and the second is to present fair and accurate news. While not mutually exclusive they can often be opposing forces.

Another non-business example of this in Australia was brought about by the sudden retirement of Matthew Hayden (a long serving member of the national cricket team). Last week every newspapers was a critic, saying he has lost form, he should not be selected etc. Then the day he retires, the same newspapers sing his praises, what a legend of the game, sad to see him go, who could possibly replace him?

Give me a break.

The truth is, it's not all bad news and you should not believe everything you read. Businesses are suceeding in these times, and so can yours.

Car sales are crashing! Now what? (Part 3)

According to NAAMSA, December 2008 sales were down 27%. That is quite a serious number and it probably is similar to numbers around the world. That kind of drop, coupled with the already low dealer margins, stock holding building up, cost of financing the floor plan and suddenly car dealers are making losses on car sales.

What do you do? Well if you are a buyer, you bargain hunt. If you are a car owner wanting to sell, you don't. But if you are a car dealer, you need to change your business focus in a hurry.

Most car dealers have other revenue streams as well, and one they will have to focus on is the high margin service and parts departments. If you suddenly have less foot traffic on your floor and sales people are sitting idle, turn their attention to service lead generation. You already know who bought cars from you and when, give them a call and find out how they are enjoying the car, enquire about mileage and remind them when there next service is due. Offer to book them in and then call the day before and remind them.

If your salesmen are not that busy, make sure they are driving the high profile service customer to work - preferably in a demo model of the new version of that customer's car.

Selling cars does not have to be a once off transaction with a never-to-be-seen-again customer, it can be a service customer acquisition excercise. If you don't have this approach, and a dealer in your area does, your future service revenue might just be driving through their front door.

And when the economy turns. Don't stop doing any of the above!

The real estate market is flat! Now what (Part 2)

A lot of the inspiration for this came from Seth Godin whose blog I follow...

The real estate market the world over has taken a bit of a dive. In South Africa in particular a perfect storm of low interest rates, strong economic performance, low inflation and a mass of first time buyers led to astronomical house price increases.

Demand exceeded supply as the developers could simply not keep up. The only possible effect - price increase. Good real estate agents made good money, average real estate agents were suddenly popping up everywhere due to all manner of people following the money.

But then the inevitable collapse. Due to the world financial crisis (ironically driven by the real estate subprime crisis in the US), the collapse was spectacular and rapid. Where to from here for real estate agents who actually want to sell houses and make money as opposed to just making money?

Start a local paper for your area...as mentioned in post linked above.

Why you may ask? Well the current market condition is temporary. What happens when the tide turns? You need to be poised to reap the benefits.

Your agency has a reputation in your area, maintained by dealing with integrity, having professional staff and selling houses. In a flat property market you aren't getting enough face time with that client base to maintain that profile.

So over time your agency no longer stands out but merges into the crowd. To stay at front of mind when buying and selling decisions get made a project such as this could keep the image of the agency bouyant.The content should be relevant to persons involved in property or thinking about property. It should be honest and professional, not a sales pitch. You make the money when you make the sale - this is just to get the customer in the front door.

The economy is flat, now what? (Part 1)

If you are operating a business that is adversely affected by the current economic conditions, what are you doing differently right now?

If the answer is nothing then you are in trouble! You have two immediate decisions you have to make :

1. Can you buck the trend and improve sales during this time?


2. What are doing to make sure you are in a better position than your competitor when things pick up again?

If you aren't thinking about this, then you are sliding back with the economy and losing ground.

We will look at some practical, cost effective strategies that various businesses can implement right now to prepare them for success.

Stock take sales!

In South Africa, the days before Christmas are a mad panic of shopping. The concept of going to the mall in those days scares me - fighting for parking, pushing through the throngs of shoppers like a homesick salmon and then trying to find the correct gift.

In Australia, I did some shopping at the Chermside Westfield in the lead up to Christmas. Free underground parking, practically no-one in the centre - it was great. If you missed out on an opportunity to hit the shops, there was 36 hours of shopping at the centre (starting on the 23rd thru the night to the 24th) which seemed like a very clever idea.

But apparently, the shopping centre stood empty. Was this a sign of the financial crisis? NO! In Australia, everything goes on sale on the 26th. The shopping centre bursts at the seams as the whole of Brisbane pours in to get the good deal on the stock take sales.

The lesson : If you are going to pay staff overtime to work round the clock before Christmas, start the sales at the same time and maybe you will be able to get some more units out the door.