Recessions Stink! Money is tight for just about everybody right now. When it costs you almost double what it used to cost you, just to fill up your car with gas… it is only natural to make spending cuts in other areas of your life. There are many reports of people not spending the way they were spending even a few months ago. The retail industry is hurting, and I think we are going to see this really cutting into web based sales as well. If you are a website owner that relies on selling products, do you have a plan in place to help you get through the hard times?

Here are a few tips to help you get through this recession…

1)Cut back on advertising spending- You won’t usually hear me recommend advertising cutbacks, but this can really help save you some money in the short term. Keep any saved money in your advertising budget for when the economy turns around, and there are buyers ready to spend money. Don’t use your advertising money elsewhere unless you have no other choice. I recommend holding back advertising dollars to spend when consumers are ready to buy.

2)Reduce any website maintenance charges- If you are paying a firm to make updates and maintain on your site, see if they can reduce your monthly fees for less service in return. Now is a good time to see about reducing any monthly charges that may go unused. I recommend really streamlining your books and seeing where any money is being spent for little in return.

3)Offer Special Deals- No matter how bad the economy may be, there are still buyers out there. You may need to search harder to find them, or just offer a deal they cannot resist. Try coupons, free shipping, or throw in some extra products for them. By making this customer happy you are now able to convert a sale into a long lasting customer. Also, people who get a smoking deal are more likely to tell their friends and family.

4)Plan for the future- Now is a great time to plan for the future. You probably have a little more free time now then you did back when business was booming. Take any downtime you have to create a plan for when sales pick back up again. Maybe not is the time to plan a site redesign. You will be a step ahead of your competition if you already have a “after recession” plan ready to go. Make sure your books, inventory, staff is standing by for when this recession is coming to an end. Don’t cut resources until you cant afford to pay them anymore. Just remember, things will get back to normal after this recession runs it course.

5) Try to Gain Free Publicity and Brand Recognition- Use the free resources out there to try and gain brand recognition, even if they don’t generate immediate sales. Sites such as Craigslist and Backpage are free, and can help drive brand recognition. Post on these sites regularly. Also try to get listed on as many directories as possible. Also reach out to possible business partners to share links. Slow times can be great times to help build your SEO strategy. The work you put in now will pay off big time when the recession is over and money is ready to be spent.

Try some of these tips and the recession will be over before you know it. Good Luck!

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It’s no doubt we all have busy schedules and our days fill up before we know it. If you’re running a business, you know exactly what I mean. There just aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done so why do we constantly try to add more to our routines? If you and your business needs website help and you’ve been putting it off, it’s now time to move away from the procrastination and move on with your website project. There’s no excuse to wait any longer.

Many business owners think they can handle creating a website on their own. They think they can read a book or look over a website tutorial and they will be good to go. I will tell you that if you do put the time and effort into it, yes…you can develop and code your own website. But, in the meantime you will neglect other areas of your business that should be your main focus while you are trying to learn the ins and outs of website development and marketing.

I’m a true believer in focusing on what you are good at and outsource or contract out what you are not experienced in or lack a skill set. Ultimately this will save you money. You might cringe at the cost of a website but by not having a website up and running for your business, you are losing out on a TON of potential profits by simply not having a web presence.

You have to look at a website as an essential investment for your business. It’s a piece of the puzzle that you must have in order to fully succeed and take advantage of all markets available. It’s like your employer offering a 401K with dollar for dollar match but you don’t take advantage of it. My question is, WHY aren’t you taking advantage of it? If you invest in a website for your business, it will pay off exponentially over the course of your business run. When it comes down to it, a website is cheap related to other advertising mediums such as print media, radio and TV. You can invest a couple thousand dollars into a nice website and some website marketing and it will pay off for years and years to come.

Get Website Help now and take your business to the next level. I can guarantee that your competitors are.

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This is not meant towards those clients who understand that we are the professionals and we know what we are doing and allow us to run with the ball. This post goes to those who hire a web or Internet marketing firm for help but won’t listen to their advice. What’s the point in hiring a firm in the first place if you feel you already know everything there is to know about Internet marketing? You’re just wasting your budget if you don’t allow the Internet marketing firm to do their jobs.

Here is how a successful Internet marketing firm and client relationship is created.

• The Internet marketing firm is in charge of analyzing the current Internet marketing situation of the client.
• The Internet marketing firm is in charge of creating an Internet marketing solution that works for the client and is sustainable.
• The Internet marketing firm is in charge of executing the plan and strategy and possibly maintaining it if the client hires the firm on a contract to do so.
• The client provides all information necessary and essential to the Internet marketing firm so they can assess the client’s Internet marketing situation and create a web marketing plan that is suitable for their particular line of business.
• The client focuses on their core business strengths throughout the process and sticks to their business objectives.
• The client leaves the Internet marketing strategy and planning to the Internet marketing firm.

This is the ideal Internet marketing firm/client relationship. Leave the web stuff to the pros and you focus on your day to day business objectives. When the client starts budding in and giving suggestions is when the entire process gets very complex and often leads to everything getting off track. You hired the Internet marketing firm in the first place because your business lacks particular web characteristics. So trust them to do the job. This is why you hired them in the first place, right?

If you outline both the Internet marketing firm’s role and the client’s role in the project initially, this should help keep problems to a minimum. Now, please don’t take this the wrong way. It’s perfectly fine for a client to ask questions about the project or ask for explanation regarding something. The problems arise when the client feels they know the Internet marketing information better than the experts just because they read “Internet Marketing For Dummies”.

Internet and web marketing changes every single day so to keep up on it you must live and breath Internet marketing. Reading an article is not going to make you an expert in the field. You have to dig in much deeper to fully understand the process of Internet marketing.

So, if decide to hire an Internet marketing firm, please trust their expertise and let them help you out. Offer your input but don’t throw their advice out and don’t step over the boundaries trying to be a know-it-all Internet marketing guru. Their advice and help might be more valuable than you can imagine and it might dramatically impact your bottom line.

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I have been doing a lot of thinking about this question over the past few weeks.  Can you trust the people you employ to do your web work for you?  On the flip side, as web marketers we ask ourselves the same questions about our clients/potential clients before we take a project.  It is important for us to trust our clients ideas, trust their dedication to the project, and trust they can afford to pay for the work we do.  Most importantly we need to trust that our clients will be appreciative if we go the extra mile to help them succeed.

When you decide to embark on a project with a web development team, trust is the main component to the business relationship.  Most of our clients started out with very little knowledge of the web marketing industry, and they need to believe we are giving them the proper information to help move forward.  They also need to trust that aren’t charging them an arm and a leg for something very miniscule, and with little overall value to their site.

Unfortunately, there are always a few bad eggs in every basket that can spoil the whole batch.  Not every marketing firm out there holds the concept of “trust” in such high regard.  Some firms want to get their clients in and out as quickly as possible, and for as much money as possible.  Ask yourself this when picking a web marketing firm… “Can I trust these people, and are they really interested in my company’s wellbeing?”  also you may need to ask yourself “Is this firm willing to educate me so that I can make the right decisions for my company?”  It is very important to not let your marketing firm make decisions for you.

It is also very important that your web marketing firm not charge you for advice and information.  They should arm you, the client, with as much information as possible to help you make your decisions yourself.   Good firms are confident that their income will increase over time if their clients trust their opinions.   In an industry that seems so confusing to most of our clients, we try to remember that building trust is even more important of a step than building a web layout, building an advertising campaign, and most importantly building that final invoice.

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We see so many people try to jump in markets that are so over-saturated. They think that the money will be there when they create their website and visitors will magically use them instead of the other millions of competitors in the same industry. While this can happen and is not unheard of (much hard work is needed), it’s so much easier to break into an industry with less competition.

We do understand that some people have passion for certain things and these certain passions might already be overdone in the marketplace and that’s fine. If you truly have a passion in a highly competitive market, then make sure you do it better than your competitors or you will be one little fish in that big sea of competition. Do something different that provides value. Think out of the box. Be the leader in that industry. Build an authoritative website that people will come back to over and over again to learn the latest and greatest from you.

Now, if you are just starting out and trying to figure out which business or website to start, then you need to be very careful. You ideally want to do something that you greatly enjoy. If you don’t, you will find yourself fade at a certain point due to the lack of interest. Find something you love. Find a hobby that you’ve enjoyed your entire life and create a business out of it.

This is not the most factual article but we just want to warm people before they jump into a business or new website and let them know that half the battle (or the full battle) with new businesses is competition and making a name for yourself. Create something new and you will already be ahead of most and you WILL get noticed much quicker than if you start a highly competitive website.

Best of luck!

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