All posts by Editor

business, development, E-Commerce, Websites, work connexions

Content, content, content.

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There are a lot of companies on the internet that would like to promote your website. Costs vary from £1,800 to 100,000+ For the novice web entrepreneur or newbie in the internet business it is a very comforting thought that you can pay SEO companies to increase visitors to your site. All these companies offer legitimate services using ad words, link building, tag optimisation , etc. (As we do too, the only difference with us is you just pay an hourly rate).

The main key to increasing traffic to your website and maintaining that traffic is content. If customer x goes to website y and likes the website he will most likely come back to look some more. If it is a static website with no changeable content chances are the site will not receive a second visit. Once they have read the four pages of information (about us, who we are, what we do, where we are, etc) they are not going to go back. The same applies if the content is very well written, comparable to a novel, even then they would be unlikely to; Who of us likes to read our book while sitting behind a computer? Something which leads me to a significant minor point that any website would not do themselves any harm to have a few PDF’s that people can download and print and read while they are sitting on their comfortable sofa drinking a cup of tea.

Almost daily I receive confirmation that there are any number of good ideas for business. A good idea is not enough by its own, it takes dedication, skill, demonstration that company x is good enough to get my business. Which is why ,the tools of web 2.0 are so important (blogging, forums, commenting, etc) The market is changing. A well written CV with a few qualifications and a pleasant smile used to be enough to get a job. Nowadays companies can research each applicant. If you have not written content to backup what you are doing, it is going to be very hard to achieve your goals. This used to be achieved by articles in the printing media. It is now available to every one on the internet. In the form of a profile and a blog . (Wcx, this company offers Wc3 legal compliant blogs and profiles) On the plus side by writing a little bit about what you do will have its own personal benefits, company benefits and will probably save you a few thousand quid.

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Just the right amount of Naivety

Naivety is a funny old word. Can we have just the right amount naivety?

If we are cynics about the world and the things we do, would we get very much done?

One has to strive to a higher goal as a way moving forward. Of course that goal must be attainable or then we end up saying he/she is naive.

So in conclusion it is very much about hitting the middle ground.

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Dealing with Every Day Challenges

There is a Bob Dylan gangster song called Joey where one of the lines is ’peace and quiet is what we need to get back to work’ It is fairly obviously thought, in war there are rarely winners. This almost sounds like a push for world peace. The parallels do exist. When one is in Business they are for the most part serving a need in there relevant sector. I would imagine that very few people enter into business with objective of having a war.

 

Every now and then it is necessary to exercise a degree of empathy and consider what your competitors are doing. There are of course severely choices here. One can ignore the changing world and circumstance to his/her own peril. My personal strategy is to neutralise the threat. This often done by working together or having frank discussions. Examples of this are of course unions, professional bodies, etc.

 All these groups have an important role to play and achieve an awful lot for their members. For example unions in Japan, have been very successful. In Japanese canteens they all sit together as a team.

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Successful online Business

One of the keys to having a successful website or online business is also being active offline. One can see this in the case of  second life (www.secondlife.com) or the long list of A bloggers. A lot of these successful internet entrepreneurs have real life business and more important high social contact online as offline. It has to be remembered that technology is only an aid not a replacement for doing business that counts. The techniques used  are just the same as in real life.The only difference is the possibilities our much greater.

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Internet Advertising Going Up

So to see this week, we have experienced a big local shift, what has already been common knowledge for sometime that internet advertising is growing. The local markets are all moving up a gear on the internet. The waters are still unclear on what is the best way to get your money’s worth online and making your website pay for its self.

Funnily enough there are no great surprises in how this work. While print media advertising has been very successful in the past. It is still basically one way business. The advertisers talking or demonstrating their wares. There is no business that can be one way towards their customers. Feedback is key to developing and launching a new product. Web 2.0 is about that, two way business. Work Connexions offers that community.

The internet will not replace relationships. Despite the success of social networking sites. A quality product produces quality results. If you can build up on line profile overnight than you may have to ask your self how much is that profile worth? I believe it is possible on Facebook to becoming Tony Blair’s friend. While that might make a good dinner party story. Can one take it seriously?

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IOD 60 Year Anniversary

The Institute of Directors is celebrating its 60 year anniversary this month. For any organisation to be making a valid contribution for that amount time is no mean feat. Of course the institute has been playing a very important role in business over the last 60 years. Many people dream of having their own business and being independent.

 

In the Isle of Man the success rate is very high. (eight out of every ten businesses is judged to be a success by the DTI. In comparison with the UK where it is the reverse of these figures. Of course setting up ones business always works on two levels . It is easy enough to have your trade or skill that you are good at. A very different matter when it comes to selling your business and taking a risk. It is not surprising a lot of people struggle with making that transition. The IOD can provide training knowledge and support in these matters, not just for big businesses but for all people that manage the risk of business. Take a look at the website: http://www.iod.com

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ISO as good as your word

Without doubt keeping your word is primary to business. But ensuring that is often a complicated process. As no man is an island no sole responsibility can be placed on one person. When a client gets your word, one will do everything to ensure that it is kept. Organisations with good communication, infrastructure and accountability will more than likely succeed at this. It is important when building your business to ensure that safe guards are in place. One can implement quality standards themselves or they can hire experts to come in and do this for them. Of course Management have to support the idea. This is one reason why ISO quality standards has achieved so much success. Imagine an airline part that does not fit correctly, that simple mistake discovered at the time of installation will cost tenfold, than if it was discovered at the manufacturing plant. Of course there is the loss of face too, a much more serious consequence.