Cashflow Copywriting and Marketing

It’ s 27^th of Jan, this is the time business awakes from it summer hibernation. The kids are going back to school. The holiday is over.

This is when business, gets fair dinkum.

Everybody had their holidays, it’s back at work.

So as a small business operator what’s your plan?

How are you going to get more business?

There are over 1.9 million small businesses across Australia – many of these businesses are struggling to survive.

Small business realise it’s getting more expensive and harder to get in front of new prospects. You’re looking at better ways to find and qualify your target market

You’re looking at practical ways to reach new customers.

My clients tell me consistently

“they’re aware they need to have website and get found on a Google search, they just have no idea, how to achieve this.”

You probably fall into this boat too.

It’s hard for Small Business to stand out in a crowd because the big boys are throwing bucket loads of cash on Fancy Billboards and TV advertising. They’re just making noise.

“Use of the internet is high among Australians and, importantly, among consumers. Small business owners are missing valuable opportunities to use the web to promote their business and build their customer base,” Tim Reed, CEO of MYOB.

Businesses are looking for solutions to dwindling profits and sales.

If you don’t have a website, then take a look at these stats

• As of 27 Jan 2010 the population of Australia reach 22,130,470 , according to Australian Bureau of Statistics Website http://www.abs.gov.au
• In 2007 there was 1 Small business for every 10 people in Australia, approximately 1.93 million active small businesses (1,927,590) in Australia, representing 96 per cent of all businesses (2,011,770)

ABS Counts of Australian Businesses, Including Entries and Exits, June 2003 to June 2007 – 8165.0, Table 13 p 18.

Do you have Website?

Australian use the internet so Small business needs to have a website

• At the end of June 2009, there were 8.4 million active internet subscribers in Australia.
• Digital subscriber line (DSL) accounted for 57% (4.2 million) of these connections, which decreased from 63% since December 2008 when DSL represented 63% of non dial-up access connections.
• This is mainly due to an increase of Mobile wireless subscribers from 20% of all non dial-up connections (1.3 million) in December 2008 to 27% (2 million) in June 2009. That’s an increase of 51% over the six-month period.

ABS8153.0 – Internet Activity, Australia, Jun 2009

Small business and using the Internet

• 97% of SME’s owned a computer of some description compared with medium Business this sits at 98% Small Business  owners have  embrace the concept of being portable with 63 %of SMEs now owning a notebook computer – Sensis® e-Business Report –The Online Experience of Small and Medium Enterprises 2009
• 95% small and medium businesses are connected to the internet, an increase of 1% from last year. 96% of SME have broadband internet connection
• 97%  of SME use  the internet , to communicate with clients, customers and suppliers, with 92% used to look for information on products and services and then 91% using for research

Results from the MYOB Australian Small Business Survey, 31 Mar 2009,

“Use of the internet is high among Australians and, importantly, among consumers. Small business owners are missing valuable opportunities to use the web to promote their business and build their customer base,”  Tim Reed, CEO of MYOB.

“The web is a critical information and communication platform, an important tool for small businesses, particularly now with the current economic turbulence,” continues Mr Reed.

Survey Indicator Report – March 2009 http://myob.com

• The MYOB survey found only 39% of small business had a website and of these only 30% were able to sell online (online shopping or e-Commerce facility)
• Only 44% of Small business had registered a Domain Name, as of March 2009, with 52% don’t even have  domain name registered
• As of 30 June 2008 36% of Australian businesses have a web presence, this includes businesses with a website, home page or presence on another entity’s website http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/ProductDocumentColle..
• The bigger the company the higher the chance of having a web presence – a company with over 200 employers 96% likelihood of having a web presence compared  only 27% for businesses employing 0-4 persons  [1] Sensis® e-Business Report –The Online Experience of Small and Medium Enterprises 2009
• Businesses employing 0-4 persons comprise just under two thirds of the population and have a relatively low incidence of web presence.

These statistics show why businesses who don’t invest in a web presence will be left behind

If these figures help you to see the opportunities of having a web a presence, then it’s time to take action.

What are your Website options

1. You could build a website yourself (Do you have the time  or knowledge to learn html and how upload files to the a server, probably not or you would have a site)
2. If you have a geek as a friend, then they could build you a site, They usually have lots of fancy code,(but are not very practical for marketing purposes)
3. Get a web designer to build you a site. You need to know your purpose and what your trying to achieve ( the trouble with these sites, is every time you need to update them, you need to have the skills to update them or pay the web designer, this is why most Websites have stale content)
4. Use a CMS Content Management System, like WordPress, or Joomla which take a bit effort to set up, but it’s as easy to update your content, all you do is create a document in Word, then cut and paste and click publish. Google loves CMS because they have fresh content.

Most small businesses don’t have the skills to build a website and those that do struggle to have their website show up in the Google search.

Building a website the easy part, the trick is getting the website found on a Google Search.

If you ask most business. “Are they happy with the amount of traffic their website generates?” and “Do they know how this traffic converts?” Most business owners want more traffic and have no clue if it produces any extra business

If you looking to get a web presence and not sure how to go about, then Cashflow Copywriting & Marketing would be happy to guide you through the process.

For more information on CMS check out Which Blogging software should you use?

Matt Cutts talks about Small Business Marketing