A mission statement might sound like something very grand that only massive corporations have, but even the smallest company can benefit from having a mission statement, company vision or simply a company ethos.  

Quite simply a mission statement is a formal, short, written statement of the purpose of a company or organization. A company ethos  is a defined set of values and beliefs.

When we set up Mum’s the Boss we did so to meet a particular gap in the networking circuit and when we planned our meetings we knew they had to tick a number of boxes  and be Child-Friendly, Affordable, Informative, Informal and Supportive. Those five key principles are at the heart of everything we do and have come to form the MTB Ethos.

A company ethos or mission statement will:

1. Allow your customers to identify & connect with your values
2. Inspire trust in your customers, by clearly stating your promise to them
3. Provide a visible sense of direction for your company
4. Help your decision-making when new opportunities arise, as you can quickly test whether they fit in with your values or deviate from them
5. Provide a framework for the growth of your company

So if you haven’t done so already, take a few moments and transport yourself back to the very start of your business, and write down why you set up your company in the first place and what your aims and goals for the business were back then. Are you still on track and being true to yourself? If not, use this as a framework to refocus and regain that vision. Then make a promise to this effect to your customers.  

“Vision without action is a dream. Action without vision is simply passing the time. Action with Vision is making a positive difference” – Joel Barker

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So how did you all get on with the first tasks from last month? Easy huh? Bet they got you thinking though. The trouble (or even benefit) of any aspect of internet marketing is that the internet constantly changes. So you need to keep up with the times to make sure whatever you are doing is fresh. So let’s get on with this months tasks!

SEO Task for August

Do you remember last month when I asked you to write down your top 10 chosen words that you would hope to be found by? These are your keywords. Keywords work even better for your website when those words can be found on your website itself a couple of times however, the overuse of keywords, a practice called ‘keyword stuffing’, will cause a web page to be penalized and the SEO ranking may be decreased. So as you can see, it’s all about balance.

Your Task: How many times do these words appear on the front page of your website, actually in the copy itself (in the text)? Are they all in there at least once? If not, maybe it’s time to look at your copy and add these words in.

Social Media Task for August

The power of the Retweet!

Retweeting is when you share another persons Tweet on your stream. For example it may look like this: “RT @mumstheboss: Internet Marketing #2 post here www.here.com”

Whilst ReTweets’s are great for sharing information they are also a really good way to network and make new contacts on Twitter. Most people (well the polite ones anyway!) will say ‘Thank You’ for ReTweeting them, use this as an ice breaker and say hello.

Your Task: Retweet at least 3 new people every day for one week. If you only follow a small amount of people and you cannot find anything you would like to ReTweet then perhaps it’s about time you started following some new people. Don’t be afraid to see who your friends are following, you can follow them too if they sound interesting. Give it a go. ReTweets can be the first step to a conversation and then that first step can also be like a handshake of a new contact. 3 ReTweets a day will sound like a lot in the beginning, but imagine if they were 3 business cards you were handing out? You would do it then wouldn’t you ?

Have fun and get out there with your RT’s!

Sally Walker
Sally Walker Media Labs
www.sallywalker.me.uk

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“Summer time, and the living in easy….” Well maybe for some, but summer time for mumpreneurs is often a complicated mix of childcare arrangements, snatched hours at the computer, all washed down with a massive amount of guilt.

Why guilt you may ask? Well, I’m assuming many of you, decided to set up your own business to give you quality time with your children, and make your career work around your children – not the other way around. The question on my mind, (as I type this at 07:00 in the morning with my two children playing around me), is how do I make the most out of my six weeks of quality time with the children, but have a business at the end of the holiday?

Before, I add a couple of ideas about how to practically manage the holiday time, it is worth dispelling a few myths and self limiting beliefs that we mumpreneurs can subscribe too:

1. Our business will still be there for us at the end of the holidays – our clients and customers also will be taking time out over the next six weeks

2. Only you can dictate the pace of your business – taking the foot off the accelerator pedal for six weeks, may actually give you the recharge time you need to get the business really firing on all four cylinders in the autumn.

3. Our children may actually enjoy the variety that play schemes, play dates and the odd DVD on a wet summer’s day can bring, rather than resenting our need to do some work.

4. If we were properly ‘employed’ we would only be getting 2 weeks off over summer – so spending a few days a week on the business, is no big deal.

5. The world will not end if you have an untidy house or buy a couple of ready-meals…

Anyway, here is how I plan to get through the next six weeks, ‘guilt-free’ (well, who I am kidding?), and with a business in one piece at the end of it!

1. Take a look at your to-do list and identify anything that is non-essential or can wait a few weeks. Re-timetable these for the beginning of September. For example, all my projects are on hold for the next 6 weeks. About two months ago, myself and my village elder on the Bedford executive village agreed we wouldn’t hold an executive village in August as we both wanted to enjoy the summer, rather than be spending time in August sorting out stuff for the executive village.

2. Focus on keeping your business ticking over rather than growing over the summer. As I have said previously, many of your clients and customers will be on a go slow as well. I plan to only complete my coaching and writing obligations over the summer. Networking and projects can wait.

3. At the start of each week, prioritise your to-do list for the week – and remember that you have seven days and evenings to complete the work.

4. Ask your children who they would like to see over the holiday and arrange a series of play dates. You may find that if you have your children’s friends over, your children are happy and able to amuse themselves, and you are able to get some work done.

5. Block out days in your diary when you are on holiday, and your sole purpose is to spend quality time with your children.

6. On the days when you have to put some hours in on your business, how about getting up very early, and doing 3 or 4 hours work before mid-morning. Then spend the rest of the day guilt free with the kids.

7. Take a look at your council’s website as there are probably details of local summer play schemes available – some may even have some places still available.

8. Delegate and outsource wherever possible. If you don’t have a call answering service, pay for someone to answer your phone in the holiday. It may help you to enjoy your time with the children without wondering whether the phone will ring.

9. Agree a routine on ‘working’ days with your children. Let them know when you need to be working and when you are free. If they are able to help with your work, then let them… (Just in case my clients are reading this, the 3 year old will NOT be assisting on any of our coaching calls…)

10. Stock up the fridge and freezer with home baking and ‘picnicky’ style foods, so lunch can be rustled up in an instance, by you or your partner or children. 

11. Have some ‘emergency’ activities sorted out, which will keep your children safely and quietly amused for an odd hour or so, if a crisis arises in the business, which can NOT wait. For example, CBeebies is my emergency activity for my two children. (I would like to be able to leave them painting or doing craft… however, I have no plans for re-decorating the house just yet!)

12. Make a fun activity out of the daily chores. For example, my two love helping me with the cooking.

Good luck with your summer! What’s your personal strategy for managing the summer holidays?

Heather Townsend(AKA @efficiencycoach) is the Chief Coach at The Efficiency Coach, and co-founder of ‘the executive village’. Heather has recently been commissioned to write ‘The Financial Times Guide To Business Networking’. (Due out  in summer 2011). Heather is a prolific blogger and can be found regularly musing about business efficiency, personal efficiency, career efficiency and networking efficiency.

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Setting effective goals is an important aspect of any business. Why? When you set a goal you have a destination in mind. A goal is the difference between where you are now and where you want to be. Then how you reach your goal involves putting a series of steps in place. Each step is an objective or a milestone you need to achieve to help you accomplish your goal.

 Here are 5 tips to help you set goals:

1. Write a list of goals. Include short, medium and long term goals e.g. 3 – 6 months, 1 year and 5 years. Planning goals at different intervals creates flexibility and puts them within reach.
2. Focus on ONE goal at a time. Get really good at one thing at a time. Once you have “taken a step” i.e. achieved your goal move onto the next goal.
3. Take bite sized, easy to digest chunks. Because you can’t eat the whole elephant all at once!
4. Commit to making a success of each one of your goals. Set yourself a goal to dedicate one day per week to market your business. Use this day to concentrate on writing an article, creating a newsletter or making changes to your website.
5. Start with a goal and work backwards. Understand what you wish to achieve and think about how you can achieve it.

 To help you realise your goals and achieve the results you desire set yourself SMART objectives:

• Specific – be clear and definite
• Measurable – consider time, quality, quantity, money and standards
• Achievable – are they within reach?
• Relevant – to your business, marketplace, and customers
• Timed – a start and end date with review points along the way.

Written by Gail Gibson of True Expressions
Discovery, Change, Transformation
Published Author, Writer, Coach and Trainer

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At our July Bedford meeting we were delighted to have as our guest speaker award-winning mumpreneur Wendy Shand, founder of Tots To Travel. As a mum of three Wendy is passionate about encouraging women in business – and particularly mums – as she believes they make excellent business leaders and perhaps more importantly, fabulous role models for the next generation. 

Wendy’s talk was on how important it is to have an overall vision, not only for your business but also for your personal life, and how having a big vision accompanied by big juicy goals focuses the mind.

At the start of Tots to Travel, Wendy recalled receiving some business advice that encouraged her to think small, so she did.  She went about creating a business with a limiting brand and, perhaps more worryingly, a limiting mindset. 

However, now all that’s changed!  Her baby friendly holiday business has a 5 year vision, big, juicy goals and a planned exit strategy. She explained that with a 3 or 5 year vision in place you can then work backwards and figure out exactly what it is you need to do today to make your vision a reality. And if you think REALLY big at the outset, then even if you only get halfway there, you’ll still have done amazingly well!

Following the meeting we heard of several mums who were spurred into immediate action with real fire in their bellies – so Wendy well and truly got her message across to her audience!

After the meeting I grabbed Wendy for a quick interview where she gave a summary of her presentation.

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At the start of the month, in our newsletter, we launched the first of our Monthly Internet Marketing Workouts, kindly brought to us by Sally Walker of Walker Media Labs. By her own admission Sally is a bit of a geek!  She likes pressing buttons, messing about with servers, developing new features for applications such as Wordpress, Simple Machines Forum, phpBB and she also design websites (including this very blog!). However, her real passion is Social Media, particularly helping Mum’s in business. Sally has her own company, an online TV show, trains and run courses on Social Media (as well as other things) and more, but at the end of the day is still a housework hating, cake eating Mum of 2, which is the hardest job of them all!

So what is a ‘Monthly Internet Marketing Workout’?   Each month I will be sharing some top tips with you to help you and your business flourish on the internet, using marketing skills, SEO and more.  But first of all a quick definition of SEO and Social Media is in order I think!

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation, very simply put, this means making your website ready for Google to grab and it add it to its search engine (or any other search engine for that matter).   In order for your website to be optimised for search engines, certain elements have to be added to your site to get it ‘ready’.

Social Media is a world wide conversation.   It allows anyone with access to the internet to say how they feel, where they are, what they are doing etc.  In business marketing terms, it’s like having a massive noticeboard where you can tell the world about your latest products, services, special offers etc.  As well as networking with other people. There are literally thousands and thousands of social media websites that you can join and network on, however for our Monthly Workouts we will be concentrating on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube and we’ll do one each month.

So, let’s get started!

SEO Task for July

Go to Google and type in the search box the words that you hope most people use to search for you by.     For example, if you are a toy shop in Hertfordshire, type in “toy shop Hertfordshire”.    On which page of the search results do you come?  Are you on the first page?  Second?  Tenth?  Last?   Remember to ignore the sponsored links at the top of the page too; they are only there because people have paid for them to be there.  Find where you are and write it down along with the date.

I’ll use myself for an example.  If I type in ‘social media expert UK’ I am on the first page of the search results and I am 4^th down on the list.

Once you have done this, you will either be really pleased with your result or sitting there thinking “oh my goodness, where am I?” well don’t worry, over the next few months we’ll have your SEO kicked back into shape.

Your Task:  Write down 10 words or phrases that you hope people would search for you by.  So going back to our toy shop in Hertfordshire, this could be “toy shop Hertfordshire, online toy shop, wooden toys, children’s toys etc…”  Then do searches on each of these terms in Google.  Does your site show on the first few pages of the search results?  Do your competitors?  Keep a note of where you are on all these search terms and where you and your competitors come.  You will need these for future tasks

Social Media Task

For this purpose I am going to assume that you already have a Twitter account, if you don’t, well go and get one quick, it’s free!

Your Task:  Login to your profile on Twitter and at the top you will see a link that says ‘Find People’.  Click this link and add in the names (business names and personal names if you know them) of all of your direct competitors, one by one, and as you find them, click on ‘Follow’.   You need to be able to keep an eye on your competitors in business, but not because, as you may be thinking, you want to spy on them, but to learn from them.   What do they do really well?  Talk to them!  Yes, you heard me correctly, chat to them, get to know them, if they ask for help, help them, if you need help, ask them for it.   I have a mantra for all business on Social Media, whether you are a large corporate business or a work at home mum and that is “Don’t compete, collaborate” a lot of the ‘Mums’ that I train or work with get sick of me saying it I’m sure, but it is so important.   Businesses, large and small need each other and by using Social Media (and especially Twitter) you can get to know your competitors and interact with them.  Networking with other businesses is a smart move; networking with your competitors is even smarter.

Two tasks that will certainly get your brain thinking about how you work on the internet – roll on August for some more!

See you next time.

Sally Walker
Sally Walker Media Labs:  www.sallywalker.me.uk
Sally Walker on Twitter:  www.twitter.com/sallywalker

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If you run an e-commerce website, it is a criminal offence not to include the following information:

• A description of the different technical steps the customer must follow to conclude the contract.
• Confirmation of whether or not any contract will be filed by you and, if so, whether it will be accessible by the customer.
• A description of the technical means by which the customer can identify and correct input errors before he places an order.
• The language(s) offered for the conclusion of the online contract.
• If you subscribe to a code of conduct (such as the Direct Marketing Association code), the name of the code and how the customer can consult the code.
• A description of the main characteristics of the goods or services offered on your website.
• The price of the goods or services, including all taxes.
• The cost of delivery of the goods or services.
• Any arrangements applying to payment and delivery, or performance of the goods or services.
• A notice that the customer has the right to cancel the contract for any reason during the seven-days following the date of the contract.
• If customers are to use a premium rate telephone number, the cost of the call, which must be specified before any call charges are incurred.
• The period for which any special offer remains valid.
• The minimum duration of any permanent or recurrent contract.
• Where goods or services ordered are unavailable, whether you propose to provide substitute goods or services of equivalent quality and price.
• That the cost of returning any goods already delivered will be borne by the consumer (if you fail to specify this you will be liable for the cost).

To ensure that you include all of this information and the essential protections for your business, you would be wise to have a lawyer draw up e-commerce terms and conditions for you. It is a one off fee and it then protects you on every contract you make with your e-commerce customers. Lawyers4mumpreneurs can help you with this at affordable rates. Please contact Suzanne Dibble at support@lawyers4mumpreneurs.com.

Lawyers4mumpreneurs is a new legal practice established to focus on mumpreneurs’ needs. We cover the full range of business law services and have over 12 years’ experience at the highest level in providing such services. Our aim is to provide mumpreneurs with a top quality, approachable and flexible service that most importantly is affordable. See details of our experience, clients and testimonials at www.lawyers4mumpreneurs.com.

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As Mums, we are used to dealing with paperwork left, right and centre, for school, the home, the endless lists….But what do we need to hang on to for our businesses? This blog will help guide you through the maze of what’s required.

Keep your financial records for 6 years

Do you need to go out and buy an enormous filing cabinet to keep the mountain of paperwork you will be inundated with? Not necessarily.

HMRC states that you should keep your financial records for 6 years in case they come to investigate your tax return. If they did appear on your doorstep (don’t worry, you’d get a letter first!), they would want to see the original records that went into the figures on your tax return. If you hadn’t kept your records for six years you may have to pay a penalty.

You must keep the original documents for anything showing tax deductions, for example P60s and bank statements. You can keep most other records electronically, as long as they are legible and show all the information on the front and back of the documents. These electronic files can be stored on CD, memory stick or any other suitable storage device. So, thankfully, there’s no need for that huge filing cabinet.

What you need to keep:

• Records to prove your income are items such as sales invoices, till rolls and paying-in slips.
• Records to prove your expenditure such as receipts, purchase invoices and cheque book stubs.
• If you are VAT registered you must also keep a VAT account, showing how you calculated the VAT due to or from HMRC, as well as VAT sales and purchase invoices and import and export documentation.
• If you are a limited company, you will also need to be able to show accounting records proving your assets and liabilities, as well as your income and expenditure. If you have accountant, he or she will be able to help you with this.
• If you are an employer, there are further record keeping requirements including all PAYE records, which in turn include employee benefits and statutory payments made.

How to keep your records:

1. Number each item e.g. you might number the first item you bought this year 001

2. Record each item and its number in the relevant book e.g.in your cash book, you would write ‘001’, the date you bought it and what the item cost. (See rules 2, 3 and 4 for more about the books you need).

3. Write the number (e.g.’001) on the receipt, invoice, till roll, paying-in slip etc itself.

4. File the receipt, invoice, till roll or paying-in slip numerically in a lever arch file (or plastic wallet for smaller items) so that they are easy to find in case of any query by suppliers or customers, or investigation by HMRC.

HMRC asks that taxpayers take reasonable care over their tax affairs. If you have made an error on your tax return, a clear filing system and helpful attitude to the investigators reduces the risk of a penalty.

If you would like any advice in this area or any other areas of accounting or tax, please contact me on 01767 260282 or amy@tayloraccountancy.net, www.tayloraccountancy.net.

Amy Taylor Accountancy takes every care in preparing material to ensure that the content is accurate and up to date.  However no responsibility for loss to any person acting or refraining from acting as a result of this material can be accepted by Amy Taylor Accountancy You should always ask your accountant to give you specific advice which is tailored to your personal and business circumstances and properly implemented.

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There seems to be is an ever growing number of business awards. Amanda Farren, award winner and host of the Mumpreneur Business Awards spoke about this topic at our MTB Hertfordshire launch meeting and talked about 3 key questions: Why are they important? Why should I enter? How can they help my business?

• They are free (mostly) to enter – all it takes is a short amount of time. If you save what you write it can often be used again or adapted. However, if you are shortlisted or win you usually have to attend the ceremony so make sure you can afford or are prepared to pay the ticket price.
• They help you focus on and celebrate your achievements.  It is sometimes hard to keep track of what you have achieved when you have a constant to do list and a full inbox. It is good to be bold and say ‘Look, I have created this great business.’ It is a great way to boost your self confidence, but also to ensure that what you are doing is the best.
• One of the common questions you find in award nominations is about the future of your business. Nominating yourself for an award helps you focus on where you would like to go next with your business, so acts almost as a review of your business plan.
• Being nominated adds credibility to what you do – both with customers and suppliers. If you are shortlisted or win then that adds even more weight to your business and its worthiness. You may even be able to access different stockists or improve your line of credit.
• There can be great PR opportunities, again even at the nomination stage. In a crowded market it is always good to have something different which marks you out from the rest. Being nominated, short listed or winning an award creates a buzz which attracts other people. Make the most of these opportunities.

Amanda’s key advice is “Apply now – today – as soon as you see the Awards – don’t leave it until tomorrow because the deadline will slip away.”

Amanda is the founder and host of The Mumpreneur Conference  which will be held this year on Saturday 18^th September at The Heart of England Conference Centre. Part of the day is the annual Mumpreneur Awards. There are a total of 8 Awards covering all aspects of business – so there is no excuse for anybody not to nominate themselves!

• Best Start up – Sponsored by Mum’s The Boss!
• Best On-line Business
• Best Business Support
• Best Green Business
• Best Saleswoman
• Best Interactive Business
• Most Unique Product
• The Inspirational Business Mum

Tickets are just £20 for the whole day including inspirational speakers, informative workshops, lunch and the awards ceremony.

For a full list and details of other awards which can still be entered this year please click here.

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Entering yourself for an award might feel uncomfortable, big-headed and generally very alien – but if the idea makes you feel uncomfortbale, just think of it as a way to generate great PR for your company. If you are shortlisted or win an award it makes great news and can help to raise your profile and your brand enormously.  And why not kick things off by entering yourself into The 2010 Remote Worker Awards

The Awards are unique as the only business awards recognising employers for their flexible working solutions and employees for showing that remote and home based working can improve business productivity, improve work life balance and help the environment.

The 10 award categories will appeal to a wide variety of organisations applying flexible working practises plus millions of freelancers, contractors and home businesses across the country.

Some of the highlights for this year will be:

Lucent Vision New Internet Business Award
This Award Category is open to anyone who is NOT in business and wants to start up a new internet business. Entrants are invited to submit ideas for a new website business or online ecommerce business. The winner will receive their own website worth £1,500 to start up and run an internet business from home. Read more details about The Lucent Vision New Internet Business Award.

The Microsoft Remote Worker Award
The Microsoft Remote Worker Award is for employees whose employers promote flexible working solutions with home working options or remote working. Read more details about The Microsoft Remote Worker Award.

The Arise Be Your Own Boss Award
Someone NOT working from home who wants to be their own boss will win a home based franchise from Snippets worth £10k and runners up will each be awarded a small business start up kit. Read more details about The Arise Be Your Own Boss Award.

Helen O’ Grady Special Award
Entrants who want to use their teaching and drama skills to work interactively with children will win a £15k home based franchise from Helen O’ Grady! Read more details about The Helen O’ Grady Special Award.

The Babyworld Parentpreneur Award
The Babyworld Parentpreneur Award is open to businesses, large or small, that can show the most successful business and family combination. Read more details about The Babyworld Parentpreneur Award.
The BT Home Business Award Category is open to anyone running a home business, large or small, that can demonstrate how they promote flexible working solutions with home working options or remote working. Read more details about The BT Home Business Award.

The BT Home Business Award

The OfficePOD Award
The OfficePOD Award is for employees and employers who want to change the way they work and be involved with the next workplace generation. The winner will receive an OfficePOD for six months worth £5,5k. Read more details about The OfficePOD Award.

BlackBerry Remote Employer Award
The BlackBerry Remote Employer Award is for employers and companies that promote flexible working solutions with home working options or remote working. Also open to companies planning to implement a remote workforce. Read more details about The BlackBerry Remote Employer Award.

A full list of the other award categories can be found at www.remoteworkerawards.com.

Paula Wynne, organiser of the awards and co-founder of Remote Employment, a job site specialising in flexible, remote and home working, expects to unearth an abundance of inventive pioneers who champion flexibility with remote working solutions.

Paula said: “We are very excited to once again be hosting The Remote Worker Award, in association with BT Business. This year will prove to be another success with some fantastic prizes on offer.”

The Remote Worker Awards is delighted to welcome Claire Young from The Apprentice to the prestigious panel of judges. Claire will help judges Karen Darby, Richard Alvin, Debbie Bird and others to choose companies and individuals who champion this modern way of working.

Claire said: “I am delighted to be supporting The Remote Worker Awards! I am keen to highlight how remote and home working benefits and gives people a better quality work life.”

The Remote Worker Awards is open to all individuals and any company in the UK, regardless of size, industry sector or turnover.

Entries open 1 May at www.remoteworkerawards.com.

For more information or any other enquiry about the Remote Worker Awards, call 0844 800 8355 or browse www.remoteworkerawards.com.

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How can staying motivated help you and your business? Motivation inspires you to keep going, to maintain a level of commitment, and to stay focussed on what you want to achieve. Without motivation the process stops. No progress is made and your business plans and dreams can lose momentum.

Here are 10 motivational tips to help you:

1. Surround yourself with likeminded and positive people. Link with individuals whose mindset creates a force of energy together, helping sustain and motivate you to continue.

2. Believe in yourself and follow your gut feeling. Have confidence in your instinct and if something feels right then you should go for it.

3. Challenge yourself to do better. Set short, medium and long term goals to work toward, creating steps to progress both you and your business.

4. Leave your troubles at the door. Stop making excuses and take action to make things happen.

5. Always deliver the best experience. Go an extra mile for your customers, right from your first meeting or phone call, through to the delivery of your service or product, and beyond.

6. Put effort in to achieve the results you desire. Business doesn’t just happen. You’ve got to work at it. Think broadly and look for opportunities to achieve more.

7. Stop talking and do it! Turn your To Do lists into To Done lists. Make your best laid plans happen.

8. Stay focused.  Focus on one goal at a time. Take bite sized, easy to digest chunks to reach your goals.

9. Manage your time wisely. Don’t overburden your workload with too many tasks.

10. Do what you love doing. Deliver your business with enthusiasm. Your passion for what you do is a key to your happiness and success.

When you apply these tips, they will act as a valuable guide to help you maintain your focus and keep on track with the development and growth of your business.  

Written by Gail Gibson of True Expressions
Discovery, Change, Transformation

Published Author, Writer, Coach and Trainer

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The absolute best advertisement for your business is a satisfied customer. Testimonials speak volumes more about your reputation and your success than any advert, flyer or brochure. And the easiest way to have happy customers is to give excellent customer service.

Mumpreneur Wendy Shand of www.totstotravel.co.uk recent won the Cisco Customer Kings award 2010, for being a company who ”treat their clientele like gold, but have also come up with innovative, creative and brilliant ways of making their patrons love their businesss”. So we asked Wendy if she could give us some tips for small businesses.
 
“Just because you’re a small business, doesn’t mean you can’t give service that delights your customers,” says Wendy, “And you don’t need a huge customer service department either. Just follow these simple steps”:
 
1.   Identify exactly who your target market is – what type of lifestyle do they have?  Where do they live? What do they like doing/drink/eat/no. of kids/car they drive etc

2.   Phone a sample of your database and do a detailed interview and ASK your customers what they think, what they would like you to do that you don’t do already, where could you do better, what they like

3.   Send out feedback forms or use survey monkey to survey your customers, and ACT on the feedback

4.   Take your idea to its logical conclusion – don’t just settle for token gestures, do it properly. For example, we provide family friendly holiday accommodation, so we don’t just provide a cot. We go the whole hog and provide everything parents need.

5.   Dare to be different: Be courageous and innovative – stand out from your competitors by doing something differently

What do you do for your customers that goes above and beyond their expectations? What is the best testimonial you have ever received? We’d love to hear about your customer service success stories.

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This is the first in a series of articles about the Art of Blogging by the Queen of Blogging herself Natalie Lue. Natalie earns a living from blogging at Bambino Goodies & Nest Goodies , Style Bambino , Baggage Reclaim and Self Employed Mum

1. Add Value
Write content that supports your offering and by being informative and even providing solutions to people’s ‘problems’, they are more predisposed to buy from you, should they require what you have to offer, or even recommend you to someone else. Think bigger picture and you will add value to your business with your blog.

2. Connect directly with your users/customers/clients
Blogs, even when they’re for business, give you the ability to have that personal touch and engage directly with your customers or people who have the potential to do business. Even if you’re not chit chatting with them in the comments box, you’re actually ‘connecting’ on an intellectual or even an emotive level. I read some great blogs attached to business that make me feel passionate about what they offer, or their market, or even wider issues.

3. Fresh Regular Content
The likelihood is that if you don’t have a blog, unless you have new products to add, or service pages to update, or maybe a ‘news’ section, that your site doesn’t get updated that regularly which means that the visits from the ‘ole search engine ’spiders’ will be infrequent, which leads me to…

4. It’s Good for Search Engine Optimisation
I  don’t suggest that you blog solely with this in mind because it will all be very contrived and you’ll probably write stuff that’s annoying rather than adding value, but think of it as a Brucie Bonus. Use tags, categories, link to (relevant) pages around your site, and do link out to other relevant peeps too.

5. It Can Make Your Site Stickier
I imagine you want people to spend more time on your site and more rounded content will encourage them to hang around for longer. Writing blog posts may also encourage them to check out other relevant products or services that they may not have considered otherwise, which in turn can generate more business.

6. Demonstrate and gain authority
The wonderful thing about blogs is that by consistently writing content around subjects, you can become regarded as an ‘authority’ – someone who people trust and regard as being a thought leader or expert on a subject or market. Being able to engage people around subjects and to explain problems and provide solutions, or even create problems that people didn’t realise they had and provide solutions, makes you valuable and authoritative. People love to feel like they have gained knowledge/discovered something new.

7. Build your brand
Whether you’re building a personal or business brand, blogs give you an opportunity to put out the messaging that you want people to know, that they may not necessarily pick up from a product description or an about page. Remember, it’s all too easy to say you’re an expert, or tell them that whatever you’re offering is the ‘best’, but when you demonstrate authority, you show people which lets you build your brand.

8. Improve your writing skills
Sounds funny, but writing blog posts on a regular basis teaches you a lot about writing content that resonates with your customers. I see poor product and service pages all the time. Blogging tends to bring out more of a desire to speak in a language that appeals to your customers – being on a level – which is really what should be happening site wide. You’ll also find that you’ll get better at writing marketing and PR bumpf.

9. Your blog is like your PR person
I’m talking 21st century PR, so this doesn’t mean posting bland press releases but talking about things that are happening in your business in an exciting and engaging way. The type of ‘news’ that has traditionally been shared via press releases with a few key people in traditional press doesn’t work in the social media evolved world. You’re now writing your news to speak directly to your customers and potential customers. Get your news out there and start telling your stories and have them ranking in Google (and other search engines) on your key terms. Go easy on putting annoying words and phrases that no-one understands (or cares about.

10. Make money
All of the above can actually help you to make money. Increasingly, as small business has greater and greater impact, people buy from people. I know so many people who blog that have made more money and experienced various opportunities as a result of blogging. That authority that they demonstrated about marketing your business online, resolving tax issues, or managing your time and business through outsourcing – they picked up more clients. Think big picture.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Today’s blog post is from our resident Copywriting expert Sam Thewlis, who starts off with the basics of why you might need to hire a professional copywriter to help your business.

Why would I need a Copywriter? It is a simple enough question- most people can read and write so why would your business want to spend money on using a copywriter when you can just do it yourself for nothing?

The answer is also simple.  Different people have different skills and while what you would write may be perfectly adequate, surely you want your business to be great?

Good copy makes the difference between people not noticing your business and a potential sale. For example good webcopy, ie the words people read on your site, must be interesting enough to hold people’s attention, give them the relevant information they need, and tell them how or where to part with their cash. In addition, optimising the text for SEO purposes, by unobtrusively lacing the text with keywords, will make sure you have more visitors to your website to be wooed by your wonderful words.

For many businesses, their website is their primary way of attracting customers, and therefore revenue and whilst a professional looking site from a web design point of view is important, so is what you actually say. The longer you can keep people on your site, the more likely they are to purchase, so here are some quick tips for what you should be aiming for in your website copy.

1. Don’t make it too long. Visitors are not going to scroll down through pages and pages of text. If you have a lot to say, put it on separate pages.

2. Get straight to the point. Web visitors have an annoying tendency to click on and click off in the blink of an eye. You need to hit them with the reason they should stay straightaway.

3. Use keywords in your text, but don’t go overboard. A widget business selling widgets in the widget industry who is a member of the widget association of widget sellers may be keyword dense, but it sounds silly.

4. Refresh your content. Search engines like to see updated content, so if you can add a blog or useful articles to your site, it not only adds interest to your customers but also keeps it fresh.

5. Outsource. Investigate whether getting a specialist copywriter to revamp your site, who will probably charge between £30 and £75 a page, is going to be more effective and cost effective than toiling away at it yourself for hours and hours and hours. I know a good one if you’re interested!

To find out more information about Sam’s copywriting services please visit her website or email her at sam@samthewlis.co.uk

Popularity: 8% [?]

Today’s guest blog is by Virtual Assistant Rebekah Harriman, of R&R VA Services, who is also leader of MTB Leicestershire. Rebekah is paid to be organised every day – and here she shares her top tips to help you stay on top of your admin.

It can be easy to get a bit out of control with your admin and have your desk look like the paper fairies have been breeding on it with abandon! Basic admin is the main thing that small businesses have a tendency to put off, but if you do, you can end up in a mess with hours of work needed to sort it all out at the end of the financial year. Here are my top 5 tips to help stop you going a bit mad and stay on top of your admin:

1. Know what you need to do:
This may sound obvious, but when your inbox keeps filling up with tasks you have promised to do, it is very easy to forget things. Keep an up to date To Do List, whether that’s on your computer or in a notebook, but update it at the end of every day ready for the morning.

2. Prioritise those tasks:
Know your deadlines for each task and prioritise accordingly. Try to avoid everything becoming due all at once and having unrealistic deadlines. If you have an organised To Do List, and you know when everything is due, it is much easier to negotiate realistic deadlines with clients.

3. Plan how and when you are going to achieve your tasks:
I plan each week in advance with my key priorities noted on each day so that I can see when and where my distractions as well as my deadlines will be. There is nothing quite as satisfying as the sense of achievement you get from meeting all the key deadlines you have in a week. Maybe I just like drawing lines through tasks!

4. Keep on top of tracking your finances:
Update your spreadsheet monthly at a minimum, then it will only take you an hour or so to do, rather than having a mad panic at 6 months, or worse a year, when you have a box full of receipts and invoices and a short deadline before you have to do your tax return.

5. Organise your receipts as you go:
To help with the above, invest in a small A5 size 12 part plastic wallet that will fit inside your handbag/laptop bag. Label it with each month from April to March. Take it everywhere with you and when you buy something for your business you can just put it straight into the relevant month pocket. That means that at the end of the month your expenses are nice and easily to hand, with no scrabbling about trying to find receipts.

To find about more about how a Virtual Assistant could help take the pressure off you and your administration please contact Rebekah on info@rrva.co.uk or visit www.rrva.co.uk

Popularity: 7% [?]