Having a website for your business is one thing, but getting traffic to it – the right kind of traffic – is something that many small business owners find daunting.

If you’re keen to discover new ways to get all the traffic you can handle to your website then the World Traffic Summit is worth getting along to.

This 3-day seminar will focus solely on traffic generation for your website(s) or online business, with some of the best-of-the-best from around the world traveling to Australia to share their tips and personal traffic strategies.

When: Friday August 27 – Sunday August 29, 2010

Where: Gold Coast, Australia

For more information and to register – World Traffic Summit

Are You Coming To The World Traffic Summit? is a post from: Donna-Marie Coggins

Have you ever wondered why it is that some people follow through and achieve success with something while others either don’t follow through – e.g. they buy a coaching program or book and never use it – or they follow through but don’t seem to achieve positive results?

I have. Many times. And it’s really frustrating because if someone buys my product I truly want them to use it and to achieve results from it.

I know it’s not just me because I’ve had many discussions about this topic with several colleagues in the last couple of years.

Thankfully, John Reese and Frank Kern, two well-known and highly respected internet business professionals, wanted to know the answer to the very same question. So they asked one man who was sure to be able to explain this … Anthony Robbins. Better still, they recorded this interview so we can all benefit from it.

Click on the link below to watch this recording:

Tony Robbins Interview With John Reese And Frank Kern

Why Do Some People Succeed While Others Fail? is a post from: Donna-Marie Coggins

What Is Market Research And Why Is It So Important?

These are important questions to answer for any small- and medium-sized business (and indeed large companies as well). Unfortunately, many small business owners disregard the importance of market research or otherwise know little about it. It is not at all uncommon for small business market research to be ignored or not completed fully. This often spells the downfall of small businesses, as they are out of touch with the wants and needs of motivated buyers.

The Danger of Assumptions

Many small business owners assume that they understand what their customers want and what motivates them to buy. But without accurately testing the market you can never be sure. There is a danger involved in assuming that you know what your client-base wants and what motivates them to choose one supplier or provider over another. The danger is in missing your target audience and not connecting with them. That loss of connection means a loss of business or sales, and for many, ultimately business failure.

Rather than assume you know what your core target group wants, be sure! The only way to be sure is to test your market through thorough market research, and find out precisely how to incite them to action and excite them about your business.

What is Market Research?

One of the greatest reasons small businesses fail to effectively complete market research is that they are unsure about what it is.

In simplest terms, market research is finding out what people want and will buy (whether that be services or goods), and how much they will pay for it. Thorough market research consists of testing and evaluating the market through different means to determine the demand, usefulness and likelihood of acceptance of a product across different demographics. It answers very specifically who will purchase a product or service based on characteristics such as:

• age
• gender
• location
• income
• other variable characteristics.

Armed with this data, business owners can very narrowly target their audience and clientele, and thus can commit resources, product development and advertising to connecting with this audience and very specifically serve their needs. Market research helps small businesses plan for every aspect of promotion and sales, including:

• price
• advertising and marketing
• product features and development
• improvements and modifications

Small Business Marketing Research Downfalls

In regards to market research, the downfall of small businesses often comes from nothing more than a lack of it. In other instances, the downfall comes as the result of business owners who become too personally ‘attached’ to their ideas. It is essential to maintain objectivity in marketing matters and use the research to support the most effective strategy.

Understanding market research and its importance is the first step towards taking full advantage of it. The next step is to learn how to perform it effectively and accurately so that you can capitalise on this very important business tool. Know where market research falls into your business strategy, and learn how to make the connections with your core group that will translate into business success.

What Is Market Research And Why Is It Important? is a post from: Donna-Marie Coggins

Many small, micro and home-based business operators are well aware of the benefits of networking with other businesses. Along with meeting new people and perhaps learning from networking event guest speakers, other benefits include building professional relationships with potential clients, suppliers and resources, colleagues, fans and friends. Not to mention getting yourself and your business known in the community.

With all of the technological advances in communications, people are now becoming ever more connected, particularly on the Internet.

And with this advancement in Internet technology comes the ability for businesses to network online too. This could be via:

• social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook
• forums and groups such as the Small Business Forum, Business Women Unite, Business Mums Network or Flying Solo
• attending webinars (web seminars)

Online networking boosts the variety your network

Online networking gives entrepreneurs a chance to develop relationships with several other entrepreneurs at one time. They can meet several people and communicate in a wider way than face to face networking. In online networking, many different industries and companies are represented within the group.

Online networking saves time and effort for busy entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are able to reach the world from their own computer through online networking. Utilising the Internet allows professionals to attend online networking avenues much easier than if they attend physical events … all from the comfort of their own home, often at any time of the day from any location and without the need to get dressed up (unless you’re using videos and web-cams!)

Along with benefiting an entrepreneur’s professional and social growth, online networking offers flexibility. Not only does this make it easier to manage how you prioritise your time, it’s also ideal for business owners in small towns and regional or remote areas who may otherwise find business networking a challenge.

Online networking can also be a viable alternative for parents who work from home while caring for children. It’s often difficult for this group of business owners to attend face-to-face networking events without also having to arrange suitable child-care. The cost and effort involved sometimes limits the number of events that they can physically get to.

I’m not suggesting that online networking should entirely take the place of face-to-face networking events, but there are some definite advantages for most businesses to incorporate a little of both.

If you know any worthwhile online networking sites for small, micro and home-based businesses, please share them with us via a comment post 

The Benefits of Online Business Networking is a post from: Donna-Marie Coggins

Brett McFall is an Australian marketing expert who has a particular skill for using a simple 10 minute process to help turn businesses around.

In this video you’ll see Brett demonstrate this process – one he performs all around the world,  getting the end result he’s looking for every single time … without fail.

It truly is amazing to watch as the process evolves.

You can learn more about this strategy on Brett’s blog or see him demonstrate it live on stage at the World Internet Summit.

Just 10 Minutes To Find Your Business’ USP is a post from: Donna-Marie Coggins

The way you package your business will have a direct impact on your success in small business.  But packaging for small business goes way beyond the look and feel of a given product; packaging of your small business includes imaging of all aspects of it — everything that the outside world will see lends to the image you create, and so you need to pay attention to all details, large and small, when creating your business image.

What Will Your Image Say About You?

Before you can apply your packaging, imaging, and concepts across your business you need to decide what that image will be.  For this, you need to first answer this question: “How do you want your business to be seen?”

Decide how you want people to perceive your business, services, personality and products.  Will you be…

• Funky?
• Trendy?
• Modern?
• Arty?
• Corporate?
• Professional?
• Relaxed?
• Busy?
• Exciting?
• Old-fashioned?
• Traditional?
• Sophisticated?

Whatever it is you choose to portray, you need to keep that image as the focus of everything you produce.

Full-Business Packaging And Imaging

A business image is created through consistent packaging and communication.  our overall business image and packaging should be giving out the same messages.  As you move to create your image and possibly branding, you need to review every aspect of business to make sure that message is consistent.  This means looking at everything from product or service invoices to the cars you drive and the clothing you and your employees wear.  It means developing marketing that is consistent with your image and drafting policies for staff and representatives that dictate the presentation of your company to the world.

Think of everything that your clients see, and every interaction, and then formulate a plan for portraying your business’s image.  Look at major and seemingly minor details, like:

• Building and office décor
• Website design
• Website content
• Product description
• Communicating with clients
• Marketing materials
• Ads
• Letterheads
• Dress codes

The most important considerations when creating your business image are message and consistency. You must focus the message you send, and then take steps to make sure it remains consistent. Make your business recognizable and predictable and give clients the confidence of knowing who and what they are buying into when they do business with you.  Target your business by sending the messages that your clientele are receptive to, and that shows that you are committed to them.

How Do You Package Your Business Image? is a post from: Donna-Marie Coggins

If you’re like most business owners, you’ve seen many presenters at various seminars, workshops and events. And I’m sure you’d agree that these presenters or speakers come into three broad categories:

1. The WOW! presenters
2. The okay presenters and the
3. The ‘I’d-rather-be-at-the-dentist-right-now-than-listening-to-you’ presenters

At some point in your business career there may come a time when YOU are required to speak to a group of people, even if it’s only a 5 minute talk at a networking event. So it’s good for you to be prepared and know some of the things that will help you fall into the first category above rather than the third one!

I’m not going to go into a lot of detail in this post but after hearing a highly respected professional business coach speak (and fall disappointingly into the third category) earlier this week, I thought I’d share what I believe to be his biggest downfall … his inability to read the crowd.

There’s no doubt that this speaker had spent a lot of time preparing his spiel. In fact, he seemed to have memorized every single word – and joke – and I’m sure he spent countless hours rehearsing. While it’s great to prepare your presentation and to practise it, the problem was that he wasn’t reading the audience at all. Or if he was, he had no idea what they were silently telling him nor how to adapt his presentation to remedy the issues at hand.

As I looked around the room I saw the majority of attendees sitting with notepads and pens on their laps … but virtually nobody was writing anything down.

Many were sitting with their arms crossed and in such a way that they were telling him, “We don’t believe you. We’re not sure that we agree with what you’re saying. Show us why we should listen to you, let alone sign up and pay to be coached by you.”

Others were fidgeting, sighing, wriggling or whispering to the person next to them … these people were bored or not interested.

Then he really came unstuck when he asked for some audience participation and he didn’t get it. Although he pushed and pushed for it, the audience didn’t want to participate and the speaker appeared at a total loss as to how to continue.

I don’t think he’d planned for this, yet their participation was crucial to the point he wanted to make. So in pushing a bit more for that audience participation … he snapped and his frustration showed.  I strongly suspect that raising his voice to criticize his audience probably didn’t win him any fans.

Now the thing is, it’s natural to be nervous when speaking in public, especially if you’re very new to it. But this guy promotes himself as a professional speaker with years of experience so I really did expect more.

For the average business owner who needs to do the occasional presentation, I highly recommend you read up on body language and learn how to read your audience. Then have a few strategies up your sleeve as to how you might encourage them to warm to you, show them that you’re credible, get them to participate and so on.

An excellent book for this is The Definitive Book Of Body Language by Allan and Barbara Pease.

You’ll find that understanding body language can help in your day to day interactions with others too.

And while it’s important that you plan and rehearse what you’re going to say, don’t be so stringent that you can’t be flexible too.

Why Memorizing Your Spiel Is Just Not Enough For A Good Presentation is a post from: Donna-Marie Coggins

A product’s features are not the same as their benefits. It is important to understand this so that you can effectively and accurately market your products. It’s a fine line, but one that, once drawn, will help you gain a better perspective on your marketing and product description efforts and methods.

What Is A Product Feature?

A product feature is an actual, physical property or function of the product. It is something about the product or inherent in the design that is beneficial, but is not, in and of itself, the benefit.

I know this may sound confusing so let’s look at some examples:

A feature of a product might be something like the fabric that it is made from. For example, your children’s clothing line might be made from durable denim or other fabric; or perhaps a sun-protectant SPF fabric. That is the actual material that it is made from – the feature of the product, the characteristic material that makes the product durable, protectant or otherwise good in some way; a cut above the rest so to speak.

Think of product features as product characteristics or specifications. A feature is something you can find listed in a description, plan or design.

What Is A Product Benefit?

A product’s benefit results from the feature. It is what is ‘in it’ for the customer. In fact, the product benefit answers that most crucial of questions consumers have – “What’s In It For Me?”

In other words, that durability lends a benefit to the consumer in that the clothing will last longer, therefore they will need to replace the clothing less often and will save money and time in the long run. The benefit of the SPF factor  is that it will prevent children from getting sun burnt or reduce the risk of skin cancer later in life.

Think of a benefit as why a product is good. A benefit is something you would list in sales or marketing material, the reason why your customer should buy, not what they are buying.

What’s More Important To The Consumer?

Customers will sometimes look to see what the features of a product are for the sake of comparison, but by and large they care about one thing – that “What’s In It For Me?” Customers are most interested in the benefits because that is what is helpful and of most importance to them.

It is important to offer key features in a product description where it can be accessed, but it is most important to let customers know how that feature helps them. Don’t rely on customers to understand features alone. Tell them the benefit of what buying your product or service will bring. Explain to them why your product or service is superior and beneficial, and give them the benefits – the reasons that they need to buy your product and features.

Understanding The Difference Between Features And Benefits is a post from: Donna-Marie Coggins

I’ve just returned from London where I was fortunate enough to be invited to Andrew Reynolds’ Entrepreneurs Bootcamp.

This two-day event was held in the magnificent O2 Arena in front of 6,000 people. The atmosphere was incredibly uplifting with so many people gathered in one place to learn how they can turn their life around. Up on stage were top speakers from around the world, including some of  Australia’s finest presenters, educators and motivators, Brett McFall, Tom Hua and Pat Mesiti.

With such a massive stage, the big screens around the venue were a must!

Another Australian, Internet Marketer and Webinar King, Steven Essa, was there to share the experience too:

(If the video stops and starts or is jumpy, just press ‘pause’ and give it half a minute to download, then press ‘play’ again)

Andrew Reynolds asked for a small donation in exchange for so much valuable information, then presented this donation of £700,000+ to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. I’m sure this generous gift will make a huge difference to the lives of many critically ill children – congratulations Andrew and everyone who participated in the event, and especially all attendees who donated to this worthy cause.

How To Give Massive Value To 6,000 People While Raising Money For Sick Kids is a post from: Donna-Marie Coggins

This video is a great example of the importance of being different:

This video is taking off and getting a lot of views … people love it.

Why?

Because the characters are doing things that you don’t usually expect them to do. And the song is being portrayed in a way that you wouldn’t usually see. Put them together, and they have a uniqueness that’s hard to top.

This strategy should apply to your business too. In order to be really successful you need to make yourself stand out. How can you be different to all your competitors? What can you do or offer that they can’t?

You have most likely heard of the term USP – your ‘Unique Selling Point’ or ‘Unique Selling Proposition’. Many small businesses come up with their USP, but often there really isn’t anything unique about it at all.

To be truly unique means to be doing something that none of your competitors offer. Being ‘reliable’ or having ‘the best food’ or ‘the greatest service’ isn’t unique. Who decides who is the best? The most reliable? The greatest? These are all very difficult to define, and no doubt every business will say they’re the best/greatest/most reliable.

Remember the first pizza company to state that they would deliver your pizza in 30 minutes or less or it’s free? That was unique. Or what about the first company to offer the lowest price around or they’d beat the competition’s price by 10%? Then there’s the bank that guaranteed that you would queue for no more than 5 minutes.

These were all services that nobody else offered. They stood out from the crowd and were remembered for it. What’s more, they often backed up their claims with a strong guarantee.

So, what’s your USP? What makes you a totally unique, one-off business? What do you do or offer that none of your competitors do?

The Importance Of Being Different is a post from: Donna-Marie Coggins