SOHO Solo West Cork

Calvin January 4th, 2009

For many SOHO Solo’s the web plays an important part in marketing their businesses. Their website is a fundamental part of their operation — the hub of their online marketing endeavours and one of their main opportunities to attract and engage with customers who are often geographically remote.

If you’re one of the many SOHO Solo’s that relies on selling goods directly through your website here’s some good advice from Kim Krau Berg, writing on usability and online user behaviour for the Search Engine Land site. While the start and end of the article are a bit anecdotal and rambling, the meat of it is a series of solid tips for landing that all important online sale.

One of the main thrusts of Kim’s argument is the importance of helping your customers know how to use your site/shopping cart. If you want to secure that sale, then offer them guidance when and where they need it (you can use your analytics package/service to find likely steps in the sales process… but a bit of common sense works wonders too).

4. No guidance, no interaction, no sale.

…is one of the mantras she advocates among her list of usability tips for e-commerce websites.

I’d probably go a step further, and say that as well as offering all of the instructions, guidance and support a customer is likely to need to complete their order, the real key is to build your web application/store to be intuitive and easy to use from the ground up. Have guidance available, sure… but strive to make it unnecessary. Some customers will read instructions, many won’t bother.

Don’t try to be clever with your design — stick to online conventions that users expect and are comfortable with. There are areas for breaking new ground with web user interface design… the place where you’re trying to close the sale isn’t one of them.

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Tags: business, Marketing, Usability, Website

• Web , e-commerce , internet
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Calvin December 15th, 2008

Catching up with my feed-reader after three weeks of forced internet abstinence, I stumbled across a great post by Damien Mulley called simply “And?”. It’s an interesting piece that challenges the Irish tendency to focus on excuses when it comes to starting a business.

Its true… both here and in Britain we’re not short of great ideas… it’s just that we tend to litter the path ahead of us with self-created obstacles to hinder our progress. Instead of focussing on the benefits of pursuing a good idea with drive and conviction, we instead ponder the reasons NOT to do it. We keep churning out the excuses until we find one that resonates, and that’s the end of that.

I have to admit that I’m as guilty of this as the next man. I have so many things on the back-burner at this stage that I’m in danger of snuffing out the flame. A more adept procrastinator you’re never likely to meet. In fact I’m doing it now… working on this blog post instead of the website project I should be concentrating on.

While it is scary striking out into the unknown on your own, I absolutely agree with Damien’s assertion that there’s no better time to take the plunge. Yes times are challenging, but challenging times are laced with hidden opportunity. You just have to be creative and tap into it.

Look at it this way: if you can make a go of your idea during the hard times, imagine the confidence and success you’ll achieve as things start to pick up.

As Damien says in his post:

You can always go back to living in mediocrity, taking s**t from a boss who is flailing about in a bumbling along industry. You’ll have learned more practical stuff in one week working for yourself or in a small startup than you’ll ever learn in a lifetime in that pensionable job.

So go on, make 2009 the year you take the plunge; follow your dreams, and don’t forget, if you happen to be located in South West Ireland join SOHO Solo!

Tags: business, entrepreneur, opportunity, startup

• Home Working , Membership , Networking , Small Business , Soho Solo , West Cork
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CTS October 2nd, 2008

Image by eschipul via Flickr

Planning for a possible disaster in known as Business Continuity Planning. Whilst many people recognize the need for IT continuity in the event of a disaster few take into account all the other aspects of their business. Business Continuity looks at all business processes, both internal and external, and plans so that all business functions can get up and running again as soon as possible.

To start you off here are some pointers to get you thinking about your Business Continuity Plan:

• Make the plan as simple as possible. If you’re trying to mitigate a disaster you don’t want added complication.
• Look at the people who might be involved, both inside and outside the company.
• What business processes might be affected, look at your suppliers, how you supply your clients, how and where you store your products, how you place or receive orders. Look at every aspect of your business.
• Is there another premises you can operate from?
• What are your IT needs? Where is data stored, how can it be accessed?
• What other types of disaster might occur other than the obvious fire, flood and pestilence? For example what do you do if your major supplier fails?

Remember that Business Continuity is the responsibility of everyone in the organization so involve everyone in the planning. This includes your suppliers and your clients; you’re far more likely to retain these in the event of a disaster if they’ve previously bought into your plan and understand what your doing.

Don’t wait for tomorrow; get planning now.

Tags: business, continuity, disaster, insurance, planning, recovery

• Home Working
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