In This Issue...
- Introduction
- Editor's Perspective: Shape Up your Bottom Line
- What's New on SitePoint!
- Hot Forum Topics
- New Blog Entries
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Introduction
As businesspeople, we need constantly to measure our
expenses and income to see not only where we're making our money, but
where we're spending it. If we know where we spend money, we can look at
ways to spend less.
Last week, I had a bad experience with a Web host that could have cost me more than $10,000. By moving hosts, I'll save about $2,000 each year. Below, we'll take a look at other areas where we and our clients have recently cut costs. Remember: the dollars add up, and that money is better off in your pocket than someone else's.
One way I make money is by keeping up with the latest changes in search engine marketing. The dust is still settling from the latest Google update, but, for the first time, I've ignored it! No, I haven't lost my mind -- see below for the full story.
This issue of the Tribune also takes a quick look at the impact of media coverage on business. Between a radio show, speaking engagements, and magazine features, my business uses the media a lot -- and we gain a huge amount of business from it. Read on to see just how much your business could benefit from similar strategies.
Happy Reading!
Brendon Sinclair
tribune@sitepoint.com
Editor's Perspective
Shape Up your Bottom Line
I gave a couple of speeches last week at a business seminar. The seminar delegates were all home-based businesspeople and I spoke on how to make a Website work for the business, and general marketing techniques. Both speeches were very well-targeted, and great vehicles for positioning my services to the market.
I finished my last speech at midday and traveled home. The seminar finished at 4.30 p.m. At 5 p.m. my email hosting crashed and I didn't receive emails for 9 hours. I've been unable to retrieve the lost emails.
How much have those lost emails cost me? Good question.
The following day, I received 2 emails from seminar delegates. The first was a general enquiry. The second was a lead that turned into a $6,000 sale. I guess I would have received 3 or 4 emails from seminar delegates who would have reviewed the information I provided in my presentations, then contacted me the evening my email went down. It's quite conceivable that the lost emails have cost me upwards of $10,000 -- not to mention the damage to my reputation!
The next day, I moved 20 domains from that Web host to one of their competitors. The deal they gave me will see me save $2000 every year.
A client of mine was recently reluctant to upgrade his computer to a newer version because of the $3,000 outlay. His current computer is very, very slow. We quickly measured that his slow computer was costing him half an hour each day. That's 3 hours a week, or 156 hours a year! This client charges $80 per hour for his time. His slow computer cost his business over $12,000 in billable time each year!
I pay almost $350 per month in office telephone bills. I'm now installing a VOIP service that will reduce my telephone bills by 60% almost instantly.
Losing your emails for a few hours might not seem like a big deal. So your computer takes 15 seconds longer than it should to open a document? No big deal, you think. And $350 a month per month phone bill might seem okay. But all these things add up to thousands and thousands of dollars. In the above cases, the costs total $26,500 per year!
At the very least, I advocate a periodic evaluation of expenses -- monthly, perhaps. But you need constantly to stay on top of expenses, and always look out for ways to reduce those costs. Don't forget to look beyond the bills, too. My client wasn't getting a bill from is slow computer, but it was still draining his business of dollars. Look around: how can you improve your financial shape?
The Search Engine Marketing Kit From SitePoint
Dan Thies, the author of The Search Engine Marketing Kit, is one of the world's foremost experts in Search Engine Marketing. With his kit you'll:
- Learn best practice SEO techniques
- Work around duplicate content, CMS, Flash and Shopping cart issues
- Discover effective keyword strategies used by the experts
- Create, optimize and manage advanced PPC campaigns
- Sell search engine marketing services to clients
Bonus: Get $150 in PPC coupons from Google AdWords, Overture and FindWhat when you open new accounts!
Why I Ignored The Google Update
There was a time when I used to follow the latest major Google update slavishly, but those days are long gone. Jagger, the current Google update, has been under way for a while now, and changes are afoot. Exactly what those changes are, I'm not sure -- it's not that important any more.
What is important is to keep developing useful content for site visitors because that is, ultimately, the sort of site search engines want to display. Sure, there will be a few search engine optimization issues to consider that might help a site's search engine ranking. But they're best assessed once everything settles down and we can take a good look at exactly what has changed. Besides, I have a Google expert advisor now!
If you want to stay on top of the latest Google happenings, take a look at Matt Cutts' blog. Matt is a Google engineer -- keeping an eye on his blog is like having a Google expert in your office. His blog will help you stay focused on the important things, and keep abreast of evolutions and developments as they occur.
Profit from Positive PR
I read an article in Sunday's newspaper about an English policeman who was writing a blog. The blog attracted the attention of various newspapers and they published excerpts from it.
The article had the effect of getting me to check out the policeman's blog when I came into the office this morning. And I wasn't the only one!
The blog has been going for quite a while and attracts a considerable number of visitors: about 30,000 a day, on average, according to the statistics program on the site. But as soon as the newspapers published extracts of his blog, this policeman became known to a much wider audience -- an audience that, like me, decided to check him out. His visitor numbers have more than doubled: he's currently attracting 65,000 visitors per day.
That's why I love media coverage: it's the perfect marketing technique! Media coverage gets you in front of your target market, usually for free. And people will check out your organisation, buy from you, visit you ... Not because you're the best (although you may be), but simply because they know of you.
I do a weekly radio show in my city. I give speeches to various business and educational organisations. And my business is featured occasionally in business magazines. All of those activities raises my profile and result in a lot of extra business for us.
I'd go as far as to say that our public relations strategy has been our most effective strategy at generating new clients to the business. Is public relations part of your promotional strategy? How much business does it generate for you? In the case of the policeman's blog, media coverage doubled the attention his stie received. What could a few well-planned PR efforts do for your bottom line?
Help Your Friends Out
People you care about can benefit from the wealth of information on new and maturing technologies available on the Internet. Help them learn how to do it by forwarding them this issue of the SitePoint Tribune!
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