Month: February 2009

Why your business should have its own domain

In our society where half the population seems to be on the road at any given time, having signage on your company vehicles is one of the most effective ways of publicising your business. 

Because I spend too much time sitting in traffic jams I get the opportunity to study a lot of this advertising. All too often I see terrific, well done designs let down by poor email or website addresses. 

No matter how much you spend on snappy slogans and flashy logos, an email address along the lines of fredtheplumber@biginternetprovider.com.au will spoil the effect. Addresses like these make it hard for passers-by to remember, and they smack of someone who can’t afford the less than $200 to set up a business internet domain. 

One of the great things about the internet is it allows smaller businesses to punch above their weight. With your own domain name, even the tiniest microbusiness is on the same basis as their multinational competitors, and they can do this for less than the cost of a cappuccino a week. 

Another big plus is your own business domain unties you from your internet provider. In Fred’s case, if he decides to change internet providers, he can’t have his address follow him. With his own domain, he can change internet providers every week without affecting his email and website addresses. 

Setting up your own business domain is a two-step process; first you register your domain with a registrar and then arrange for a hosting service to look after it for you. To simplify things most registrars, hosting companies, internet providers and web site developers can do it all for you. 

Whether you do it yourself or get someone to do it for you, it’s important to make sure someone at your business is designated as the administrative contact. This means you have ultimate control over the domain and you are the first to be told when fees are payable or domains are expiring.

There’s no reason in my mind why even the smallest business doesn’t have its own domain. Compared to the costs of a Yellow Pages listing, local newspaper ad or even car signage, a domain and the associated hosting costs are almost nothing.

Your business name is an important asset. If your organisation doesn’t have its own domain, regardless of its size, then you aren’t getting the most from that asset.

The echo chamber

cave-mouthNobel Prize winner and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman worries about the insularity of America’s economic leaders.

He’s right to worry.  The economic downturn is going to be longer and deeper than it otherwise would have been because our business, political and economic leaders steadfastly refused to acknowledge the levels of debt our societies were being burdened with and now they refuse to deal with the fact that debt is being unwound.

The challenge for business owners now is not to fall for the orthodoxies and slogans but to take a realistic view of what’s happening in the world and the effects on customers, staff and suppliers.

Just listening to your mates repeating your own beliefs is not good enough. The politicians have their pensions, the executives their golden parachutes and the economists tenured positions. You probably don’t.

Read widely, listen and be sceptical of those with special interests to protect. Most of all don’t act on the advice of those who think it will be business as usual next year.

Business as usual is going to be very different from today onwards to what it was two, ten or twenty years ago. It’s time to reinvent and look for the opportunities those too deep in the echo chamber are unable to see.

Every business is different

different

One of the things I’ve always believed is every business is unique.

Your character, your staff, your processes, your customers, your premises and every little thing your business does makes it totally different to every other business in the world.

That’s the beauty of business and it’s why any advice you recieve should be tempered by the knowledge that no-one knows your operation better than you.

This isn’t to say you shouldn’t listen to advice. You should because a fresh pair of eyes or ears can alert you to something you’ve missed.

This isn’t to say you shouldn’t experiment with new ways. Those businesses who don’t will probably not survive the next five years.

But what’s works for the guy up the road won’t necessarily work for you. His blog might be successful while yours may fail; she might be able to ditch the Yellow Pages while you cannot; they might be able to use social media while your contacts ignore it.

So understand your own businesses, its staff and the customers.

And most of all understand your own strengths and weaknesses.

Business cards are a business essential

business-cardsI attended a meeting last night where half the people didn’t have business cards, including one of the organisers and two of the sponsor’s representatives.

That’s a shame for those people. The humble business card is one of the most important marketing tools you have.

Your staff should all have business cards and carry a few with them all the time. When you’re hosting an event or meeting, then you simply can’t enough cards.

Business cards may be low tech, but they are a great cost effective way for getting your message out and for helping people remember who you are and what you do. Get some printed up today.

email because you can

Seth Godin studies two email marketing campaigns. One that obtained his permission before sending emails and another that didn’t. Guess which one works.

This is a subject close to my heart. A loophole in the Australian Spam Act allows spamming if the sender has “inferred consent” which can be anything from giving your business card out at a network function to having an email address on your website.

When I wrote about this on Smartcompany last year I was criticised by one reader and yesterday I started receiving emails from an office fit out company.  This goes to show some marketers and business owners don’t get it.

People are swamped with email, they don’t want more unless it provides value. It’s highly unlikely an email they didn’t ask for will have any value at all.

So don’t spam your client base. They don’t like it and it will hurt your business.