Last year, we watched the economy melt down. Some saw it coming for a while but most people started to get worried around August or September and then we fell off the cliff in November. It has been bad for many, many people.
While there is still a lot of effort to be put into climbing out of this hole, we are hopeful that economists are correct in their prediction of a current economic recovery. While I am not an economist, I am an avid reader and I watch the trends and signs closely and everything does indeed seem to be pointing in the right direction.
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As much as I hate to say it to my clients or colleagues, it is true. Unless you are a famous guru with success at producing sites that generate thousands of visitors (which will get advertisers knocking down your door), you need to create real estate value first.
Recently on a project I was involved in, the owner of the website was not happy with the results and made some very rash decisions.
A bit of background:
- The website targeted an audience that she was not familiar with.
- She had never created any type of website other than one selling products.
- Her goal with this website was to sell advertising space.
- The topic of the website, while a strong topic that could do wonders, was difficult to peg down an advertiser profile for, especially given the target market.
- She outsourced 100% of the work (while this is fine, she did nothing for the site except provide feedback. No content building, nothing!)
- She was upset after 6 months that she had not generated any revenue.
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When presenting your product or service for sale, a testimonial can go a long way. Testimonials can show a potential buyer how a previous buyer has been impacted by your offering, and I’ve even seen circumstances where they were the tipping point between “I might buy” and “I will buy”.
When we have testimonials, we can present them in online and offline formats and create a powerfully convincing “chorus” of happy customers. Testimonials are useful, multi-purposed, high value, and convincing. They really are ideal marketing tools.
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Perfectionism sounds like a great ideal to strive for in business and in project management but it is a mirage – a hazy image on the horizon that will never be achieved.
It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about a large business, a small business, a start-up, a department, or a project that is being managed within an organization – businesses need to work towards high quality completion but NOT perfectionism.
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I like to blog about different things, so sometimes I start series. For example, I have an “Ooops” series where I talk about business “ooops” that I see (which is much neglected; sorry). A new series I want to start is Business Urban Legends – a series revealing things that people (clients, colleagues, innocent bystanders etc.) have said or say to me in daily communication.
Some disclaimers:
- I will change the name of anyone I am discussing (or just not use names at all).
- I will not speak regarding clients with whom I am working and bound by confidentiality.
- Almost all blog posts that I write go through my editor prior to being posted. Some of these will not, as some of my best written blogs are written on the fly and without editing. So excuse any typos etc.
- There are exceptions to every rule (or, in this case, “legend”), so when I speak, I am not saying something is impossible or can’t be done. I am speaking about the majority of the time or about my own experiences.
So, in a nutshell, you will not be a millionaire eating bon-bons (or doing nothing). This is an all too common misconception. I hear people saying this or telling me all the time:”I just need a product or two that can create a passive income stream and then I will have time to travel or time to spend with the kids.”
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If you’re a business owner who is stuck at your desk for lunch, you might be getting work done but you’re missing out on the powerful networking opportunities of a business lunch. That’s where BusinessLunchClub comes in. BusinessLunchClub is where entrepreneurs on Twitter have lunch. If you’re stuck at your desk but want to do some networking, tweet while you eat and add the hashtags #businesslunchclub, #bizlunchclub, or #blc.
Read 8 Ways to Use BusinessLunchClub to Grow Your Business.
Here are a couple of tips to help you get more out of BusinessLunchClub: Click here to read more »
Everything you enjoy about business lunches is now available on Twitter with Business Lunch Club. If you find yourself unable to have a real business lunch, simply tweet while you eat and add the hashtags #businesslunchclub, #bizlunchclub, or #blc.
Here are some ideas to get the benefits of a business lunch from Business Lunch Club. Click here to read more »
One of the inquiries into my services this past week was a woman who owned a gift shop. She has been selling personalized gifts and trinkets in her boutique for over two decades. About five years ago she went online and started selling through the web as well. She saw a recent article I had written on Twitter and got in contact with me to find out what Twitter is and how it could help her business.
I began into my normal explanation of how Twitter differs from other forms of Social Media and she stopped me right there and said Social What?
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