How to Quickly and Easily Research Your Business Ideas

[This article was previously published on the www.mumandcareer.co.uk website - a fantastic resource for working mums.]

Fans of Dragon’s Den, will be forgiven for thinking that to set up a successful business you need to have a Eureka! moment and create a fabulous new invention that no one has ever thought of before.

Well that’s certainly one great way to do  it, take as examples the impressive Cara Sayer who invented the very wonderful, Snoozeshade and Elisa Everitt and Vickie Bryars who have just launched a clever scooter hand warmer  for kids – Scootearz, but there is another way – provide a product or service that is already popular and in demand.

But how do you find out what that thing is and how much demand there is for it?

Market research is the answer but before you click away at the thought of standing in the middle of a shopping centre, clipboard in hand there is a simpler and less mortifying way to start.

Get yourself a coffee and settle yourself comfortably in front of the computer.  Google, as is so often the case, has the answer.

Every day, millions of consumers use Google to find a solution to their problems.  Google knows exactly what we’re searching for and magnanimously (?!) shares that information with us in the form of the Google Keyword Selection Tool.

Use it well and this resource will help you discover how many people are searching for your product, how much competition there is and even how much it is likely to cost to advertise.

Let’s say you are interested in gardening and quite like the idea of setting up a garden design or maintenance business.

Google helps us find out which words and phrases people are searching with to find gardeners.  We can also find out which is more in demand – garden design or maintenance.

Fire up the tool by clicking here:  https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Enter all the possible words and phrases that you think someone with a weed ridden garden might search for.  Some examples could include:

• Garden design
• Garden maintenance
• Gardener
• Gardener surrey
• Landscape gardener
• Landscape gardener surrey
• Garden design surrey

Etc etc.  Include variations of the phrases, geographic locations if you want

a local business and plurals.  When you’ve exhausted every possible variation enter them into the Word or phrase box, with one on each line.

Type in the characters you see in the captcha code box (this ‘weeds’ out the spammers) and hit search.

Now before you get too excited, stop and click on the box which says Exact Match on the left hand side, this puts all your words into [brackets] and only shows you the results for people searching on those exact phrases.

Next sort your results by clicking on the ‘Local Monthly Searches’ column.  This will show the keywords and phrases with the highest number of searches in your area first (edit your location using the ‘Locations’ link further up the page if it is not showing your country.)

The bar chart shows that the competition for all these phrases is fairly high (hover your mouse over the bar) and that there are many more people looking for garden design than maintenance which might help inform the way you choose to set up your business.

If you want to find out how much it would cost to advertise your garden design business on Google, then sign in to your Google account before starting your research and a new column with average cost per click charges will appear.

By narrowing your search down geographically your numbers reduce dramatically but the relevance of that search for you increases too, especially if your business is going to be specific to a certain area as Garden Design would be.

Remember that small, local businesses do not need huge numbers searching for them on Google, a few can keep you very busy indeed, but the larger the search numbers and lower the competition the easier it will be to gain traction and visibility in that market.

You also need to think about the commercial value of each phrase.  You might be excited to see in the suggestions that Google helpfully provides below (which will help you expand your research and comes up with ideas you might not have thought of) that the word ‘Garden’ has 33,000 people searching for it in the UK each month with only medium levels of competition!  But is this word being typed in by people needing someone to mow their lawn?  Unlikely!  This kind of term is too vague to target, we want phrases that indicate that someone is looking for something to buy and has a credit card in their hand.

Of course the numbers that Google gives us need to be taken as indicators of need rather than a hard and fast calculation of the number of customers we are likely to get.  There are many more factors at play here.  Once you’ve found your niche you need your site to appear on page 1 of the search results (no mean feat!), your description needs to entice someone to click on your listing and then your site needs to convert that browser into a buyer.  But, if you’re in the early stages of finding your business idea, then this tool is a valuable resource that can help you narrow your ideas down to products and services that are in demand in your local area.

It’s also the first step in search engine optimising your website – once you know the main keyword or phrase that most of your potential customers use to find products and services like yours then you can focus your site content on them and start working your way up the rankings to page one.

There is no replacement for real time, real person feedback and market research, but that can come further down the line.  Get started researching your new business now, you never know, your Eureka! moment and idea for a fab new invention may well appear soon after!

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Next Online Marketing Workshop:  Harness the Power of the Internet and Take Your Business to the Next Level – 19^th October, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey.  Visit www.e-VisWorkshops.co.uk for more details.

How to get your Surrey Small Business noticed

Running a small business on your own or with a partner can be overwhelming!  Not only do you have to manage your day to day work and family life but you also have to keep on promoting yourself regularly to avoid that feast or famine cycle.

Using online marketing techniques efficiently can really help reduce the amount of effort you need to put into marketing and dramatically reduce the amount you spend on advertising.

But how can you help your website get found in the search engines and then convert your browsers into buyers or enquirers?  How can you keep the momentum going and stay in touch with those customers and prospects turning them into repeat buyers and ambassadors?  And how do you manage an effective social media strategy without wasting too much time on it?

My practical Online Marketing Workshop on 19th October will address these issues and help you become more confident in marketing your business consistently and cost effectively using the power of the internet.

If you have no time and a small marketing budget then this jargon free workshop is for you.  To find out more and book your place, click here:  internet marketing surrey

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e-Vis Online Marketing Workshop:  

19th October 2011 - Walton-on-Thames, Surrey

Harness the Power of the Internet and

Take Your Business To The Next Level

Just £49 – spaces limited

Visit:  www.e-VisWorkshops.co.uk for more details and to book.

Should You Be Twittering, Liking, Connecting and Blogging?

What’s your social media strategy? Do you even have one? Social media tools and platforms are multiplying by the nanosecond and it’s easy to feel the pressure that you should be engaging with this ‘new’ form of marketing – I often have clients ask me slightly fearfully – “Should I be twittering?!”

Well the answer of course is it all depends!  On your personality, your target market and the type of business you’re in.

It also helps to bear in mind that networking is not new!  Online networking is simply an easy and perhaps cheaper way for you to engage with a broader range of people and potential customers than you would normally come across in the physical world.

The rules of social engagement remain the same online as they are off; be courteous, respond and have something interesting and useful to say!

Blogging, microblogging, bookmarking and other forms of online networking are generally free or very low-cost ways to advertise yourself but they’re also time intensive and time is money.  So devise a strategy and be clear on why you’re doing it.

The main reasons are:

*  To help you engage in informal conversations with potential customers
*  To keep you as the number one choice in your prospect’s mind
*  To establish yourself as an expert in your chosen field and location
*  To generate links back to your website
*  To increase your website’s ranking in the search engines
*  To help prospective customers come to know, like and trust you
*  To keep an eye on the competition, new developments, good practice etc

Take your personality into account before you launch your social media strategy.  Do you enjoy chatting or are you more introverted?  Do you love writing on your subject or hate the thought of putting pen to paper?  If you’re unlikely to enjoy interacting with social media then you probably won’t keep it up, so don’t set yourself up to fail, come up with a strategy that you have a chance at sticking to and that suits your lifestyle.

Does your target market use social media?  Do some research with your existing customers if you’re not sure and then stay focussed by only engaging with the main platforms where your prospects spend their time.

Does your business model support social networking?  If you are in a service or consultancy based business then often clients do their research fairly thoroughly before calling you.  When they come across content you’ve generated across the web you’ve given them a chance to get to know, like and trust you and the likelihood that they’ll call you will increase dramatically.

Social media tools are a very useful component of a small businesses marketing strategy but they aren’t the be all and end all.  You still have to drive prospects to them and this is often best done using traditional marketing techniques such as advertising, PR and direct mail (including email) at the same time whether on or offline.

If you’re thinking about starting to use social media or you want to have a clearer strategy, then signing up for a 1 to 1 Social Media course with me will give you a head start.  I tailor the session to suit your business and objectives and take into account whether you’re a beginner or at a more advanced stage.  I provide lots of advice on how to use social media to help your website climb the search engines, the best tools to use to make social networking as pain free as possible and I’ll even set you up with a basic blog just to get you going.  If you want to get the most out of social media then email me and I’ll send you an outline of what we could cover to get you blogging with the best of them!

5 Quick Ways to Spring Clean Your Website

It’s easy to leave a website to its own devices for too long when you get busy, so blow off the cobwebs and make sure it can help maximise your profits this year by following these 5 useful tips…

1.  Is everything working OK?

Don’t assume your site is humming along happily without checking the basics regularly.  Have a browse through and make sure there are no dead images, incorrect email addresses, broken links or spelling mistakes.  Nothing shouts ‘unprofessional’ louder than a broken website.

2.  Is it up-to-date?

Does your website reflect your latest prices, the VAT increase and your most recent terms of service?  Is your ‘About Us’ page up-to-date or has your team changed since it was done?  Have you refreshed the images on your home page lately and made sure they’re bright, vibrant and eye-catching?  Does your ‘Company News’ section include your most recent press releases, accomplishments and testimonials?  Potential customers use your website to build their trust in you before buying; a neglected site with incorrect information will lose sales.

3.  Do a quick analysis

Use your website’s analytics system to take a snapshot of how it’s performing.  How many unique visitors have you had this year versus the same period last year?  How long are your visitors spending on the site?  Which are your most popular pages?  What search terms are visitors using to find you?  How many visitors are you converting to leads or buyers?  This data will help you see whether the site is helping or hindering your progress and where it needs to improve. (Don’t have any site statistics?  Then get a system like Google Analytics installed on it now.)

4.  Does your site do what you want it to do?

Do your most popular pages drive your visitors to your Most Wanted Response (MWR)?  What do you want your visitors to do?  Buy Now?  Call?  Email?  Sign up to your newsletter?  Book an appointment?  If your site does not specifically lead your visitors to take one of these actions, chances are they won’t.  Aim for just one MWR on each page and make sure it’s a call to action which allows you to follow-up and keep in contact with them.

5.  Watch someone use your site.

Ask an outside person, who doesn’t know what you do, to use your site.  Watch carefully and afterwards ask them how easy they found it to use, whether they could work out what your company does and how to get in touch with you.  If your customers aren’t finding your site simple to use it might be time for a revamp.

Your website is one of your most valuable sales and marketing tools.  It can sell your products and generate leads for your services 24/7 without complaint or tea and biscuits to keep it going.  It can build confidence and trust in prospective customers and make your sales and marketing activities far more productive.  So don’t let it gather dust!  Give it a decent spring clean and get it working as hard as you need it to in 2011.

What Is The Web Saying About You?

Be in the know when a website mentions your name or company by signing up for Google Alerts. Everytime Google comes across your name or any other word, phrase or website address you’re interested in, you’ll be alerted by email.

It’s a great resource for writing blog or web content too, just include a phrase relating to your business ie “Interior Design” and you’ll have a steady stream of relevant articles and web pages dealing with that subject delivered straight to your inbox.

Place the phrase in inverted commas “” to keep the alerts specific and try different variations of the phrase and spellings too. You can set the alerts to arrive daily, weekly or as they happen so you’ll always be in the loop and updated on the latest news about your industry and interests.

Surprise and Delight Your Customers

I ordered a dress last week which arrived in no time and was boxed and wrapped beautifully in tissue and ribbons with a sweetie on top – what a cheap but effective way to surprise and delight their customers, differentiate themselves from the competition and build a buzz around their business – their customer reviews are amazing and part of the reason I bought from them! 

Is there anything you can add to your offer that doesn’t cost you much but will make your clients feel really special? Stand out from the crowd and get people talking by surprising and delighting your customers whenever you can.