05/11/2007 by admin.

I had a conversation this weekend with a friend regarding websites, and why they are important to small businesses. The question asked was pretty much focusing on what I thought the benefits of going to the trouble of having a website were. Well, my view on this is quite strong, so I thought that I would share it with everyone…

SME’s have a major disadvantage against the multi nationals, and especially new start-ups! The disadvantage is quite simply that SME’s tend not to have the ability to pull off multi-million pound ad campaigns to push their product or brand into the homes of their target audience, and quite often they can’t even afford around the thousand pound mark, meaning that they fall behind and loose out to the multi-nationals… even though they may be hugely competitive and be able to offer a much better service!

Being a businessman myself I understand just how self-employed and/or smaller company directors look at things, especially when we are talking about new startups. There appears to be a mentality that marketing means big money, and placing advertisements here there and everywhere, splashing out a fortune in order to get the return. Well, to be fair this is a complete load of rubbish.

Don’t get me wrong, I made the exact same mistakes when I first took the leap and set up my first business, and believe me… I have never made the mistake since.

Heres the simple truth… most advertising does not work, and of the marketing methods that do work and are very effective a large proportion of them are completely free!!!!!! Yep, you heard me right! FREE!!!

Stay with me here, I’m getting to the useful stuff now…

Forget paying £100 to have you ad in the local paper… it will run once and statistically only hit around 2% of your target audience… of which very few will take the time to look at your add, with the rest throwing it away. This is common knowledge, yet companies still place ad after ad, spending up to £1k a year just on local ads that simply don’t produce the return to make them successful!

On a local level the most effective method of marketing is to stop trying to attract new customers! Yep, thats right, instead focus on your existing customers. Give them a service that will make them loyal to you. This will do two things. First, it will keep them spending their money with you and possibly increase their spend, and secondly, it will get them making referrals… they will tell other people just how amazing you are… then those people become customers and make referrals, and the process goes on. It’s possible to grow a business on customer referrals alone! Word of mouth, its a powerful tool!

Now, looking at the aspect of getting your business out of your locality and in the eyes of the public nation (and possibly world) wide… the same applies… don’t waste your hard earned cash on adverts in national media, on TV or on pay-per-click internet advertising.

The best way to reach a mass audience is with a website, and you can get that website performing exceptionally well without spending a penny on paid for advertising!

A website is the “shop window” of your business on the world wide web, and is one of the most effective methods of marketing your product or service in todays modern age. But the reason why most people stay clear is they think it will cost a fortune! Wrong! If you think about the £1k+ that you have now saved by ditching all that advertising that doesn’t work and offset that against an average cost of just £500 for a 5 page brochure website you have already saved money. And it is a saving, because having a website is guaranteed to generate interest in your business. And when I say interest I don’t just mean the odd enquiry here and there… I’m talking about exposing yourself to over 100,000 potential new clients a year… PLUS!

You don’t need an expensive flashy website that is all singing and dancing to achieve these results either, instead a simple but effective site with the right copy (information) included, and perhaps some pictures/artwork to complement is proven to do just as good a job.

The part that determines the success of the site is the effectiveness of your online marketing.. which again you don’t need to spend a penny on! Spending the time to get your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) right is key! Now SEO in itself is a big subject and I’ve already touched on that before at times so thats not for here. But understanding that a website is the tool that will help you keep up with the multi-nationals for very little cost is the most important discovery you will make!

As part of our Web Design Service we sort the SEO for you and work with you every step of the way to ensure that your online venture is as successful as possible. And our Virtual Webmaster Service removes all the stress and lack of time from your day, and replaces it with the ability for you to work ON your business rather than IN it!

If you would like further information then please do feel free to get in touch, or visit our main site at http://www.whiterosedesignsolutions.net

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02/11/2007 by admin.

Well, first of all I have to say thanks to everyone that has been in touch since our Trade Space went online. Its been great to hear from everyone.

One of the things that has been coming up time and time again is the ever so misunderstood subject of SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. It appears that generally people are of the belief that SEO is a very hard thing to do correctly and is something that takes endless painstaking hours to do!

OK, so why then do our sites rank highly with the likes of Google and Yahoo within a matter of weeks of having been launched? Its fair to say that it can and sometimes does take anything up to six months to get your site listed, but being clever with the way in which you market your site can give you a huge boost.

Having a clear plan will ensure that you stay focused on the best ways of optimizing your site, as all too often there is a big temptation to just submit your link to every god damn engine you can find. This will actually have more of a negative effect in the long run, so think “OUTSIDE THE BOX” (sorry, I sound like one of those rubbish company trainers now don’t I :-).

You need to approach your SEO by stepping into the shoes of your target audience. How would you search for a site, and what kind of keywords/phrases would you be tempted to use? Once you have an idea of these things you can focus your efforts much more efficiently.

If you would like help with your SEO then here at White Rose Design Solutions we would be more than happy to help, so why not get in touch? Visit us at http://www.whiterosedesignsolutions.net

We will take all the stress out of your SEO and put your firmly in control!

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01/11/2007 by admin.

Morning all! Things are hotting up, I’ve just taken yet another booking for a full brochure website! So that makes 5 works in progress now, with another 4 awaiting a start!

I can’t complain, it keeps me out of trouble

Unfortunately I’m not able to post on here quite as much as I would like to because of the sheer amount of work that is on the books at the moment, but I’ll do my best to get something on once or twice a week at least.

As soon as the current projects are complete I’ll get them uploaded to the Portfolio section of the site so that you can have a look at the huge variety of clients that I am dealing with at the moment!

Cheers all, speak soon!

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30/10/2007 by admin.

Hello! I’m back after yet another weekend of the dreaded man flu Never mind, I’m still alive which I suppose is a consolation.

Today has been a pretty productive day, talking to yet more prospective clients, all of whom seem to be madly in love with the whole Virtual Webmaster idea. But something 100% practical that has come from today is our inclusion on BT Trade Space!

Our brand new BT Trade Space site is like a mini version of our own website, but because of where it is located (viewable by many other businesses nation and world wide) its getting a good few hits

Why not have a quick peek at the place… http://www.whiterosedesignsolutions.bttradespace.com

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27/10/2007 by admin.

I’m back after a week laid up in bed with the man flu! Yep, I should have known that the Friday feeling was a warning for something much worse to come

I did attempt a day at work on Tuesday and then again on Thursday, but after just a few hours it was home time and back to bed feeling very sorry for myself. So, to make up for it I’m in today, a Saturday of all days!  Mind you, it’s needed, as these new low-cost high-quality sites are proving to be a real winner! People are snapping them up

The great thing about the sites is that my clients need never to spend any time on them! They simply tell what they want, then we get on and do them! And most people are seeing the value of the Virtual Webmaster Service and taking the offer up there too. It’s a great service, because if you don’t have the time to spend administering a site, or you don’t have the knowledge to be able to do it, then it means all you need do is send us the info and instructions and da daaaaa - the website is updated!

Seriously, it’s a great service that all our clients are benefiting from, so if you need a site putting together then give us a shout - its low-cost, high-quality, and you don’t have to lift a finger! That’s my kinda work!

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