One of my earliest memories from this time of year is the January sales. With the state of the world economy, the whole retail thing seems to swing between a state of permanent rip off and permanent sale status.

Anyways, for reader under the age of about 25, the world would work like this at this time of year.

Up to Christmas, prices would be jacked up as high as possible.

Then, as soon as the Christmas period was over – the January sales would start.

And by sale, I mean HUGE slashing discounts. I recall scenes of hysteria in central London stores shown on TV news programs. People pushing each other out of the way to get a handbag or some jeans from a specific manufacturer.

A sort of 20th Century version of an apple, Microsoft or google launch.

So what about our January sale?

We have picked out a series of products that we think fit the January Sale bill exactly.

Over the next few days, we will be unveiling stunning discounts and never to be repeated offers. One blog post a day.

These products will be discontinued and some of them WILL NEVER be available again. They will be defunct, finished, desupported and removed from our inventory.

So what is first up in our January sale?

First up in our January sale is our “Marketing Basics” training course.
If you are a start up or new business, then the marketing basics is for you. Assuming you know nothing about marketing, this online training will walk you through working out what EXACTLY you sell and WHO you want to sell it to. Dealing with the pitfalls of each and helping you to work out the best plan of action to PROPEL YOUR business upwards in 2012.

So to get this SUPERB training (which will NOT be available again) for just £5 – jump over to the marketing basics site.

http://www.marketingbasics.info

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Blog post originally from Sharp End Training

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What to blog about is a question that crops up quite often – most new business owners use wordpress (because it is free). But wordpress is a blogging engine and they don’t know WHAT to BLOG about.

I read a lot (and I mean a lot of blogs). For someone who has a first wordpress indexed post in 2005, I feel I can talk with some confidence about what to blog about.

Firstly, take a step back and think – before you even write.
What is the purpose of the blog. Is it engagement, is it to get signups to your newsletter or list, is it to show your expertise in a topic.

Once you have this – you can start to construct a plan. (Yes I know thinking and planning are boring but jumping right in is never a good thing).

Once you start writing a blogging plan, bear in mind, one thing the blogging gurus continually bang on about is your “authentic voice.” Writing in corporate speak isn’t for me – I had enough of it in a previous life. So you will find my writing peppered with questions, brackets and generally broken up.

(This has the added benefit of making it easy to skim read).

How does all this help you with what to blog about?
As an aside, many people seem to make the mistake of confusing blogging with selling. If a blog post is a veiled sales piece (or even an unveiled one) – it leaves the reader very little scope for doing anything meaningful.

For a sales blog post, all you will ever get comment wise is
1. Great blog post (Difficult to distinguish these from spam comments – reap what you sow and all that).
2. People complaining they have used your product or service and it was lousy.

Neither very good if you blog goal is engagement.

So, what’s the £63,000 answer
Take ideas from this list (assuming you have a business blog related to your expertise..)
Product reviews
Book reviews – You do read don’t you?
TV programs (No – the ones RELATED to your expertise)
Industry events, conferences and exhibitions you attend.
What YOU personally think about news or current affairs and how they affect your industry. (Maybe you want to be controversial, maybe you don’t?)
Things you did recently – No not what you had for lunch – more interesting stuff. Did you see something unusual or strange related to your industry.

See this blog post from a while back – which is really about nothing at all. Even more relevant given Sepp Blatter’s recent comments on racism.

What to blog about (not)

You should probably avoid one or all of the following

Revealing personal information about yourself or your family. (Unless you are a publicity seeking, no shame celebrity whose scruples know no bounds). It’s probably easy enough to find all this anyway.

Overtly selling (as discussed)

Knocking your competition (The laws of libel apply online just as they do anywhere else).

If it helps decided what to blog about

Buy a notepad and carry it with you. You can jot down thoughts where ever you are.

Oh and one more thing – If you can’t write – maybe you can speak. Record your blog posts as audio and get a virtual assistant to transcribe them for you.

Leave a comment if this helped you with what to blog about.

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Very few businesses can survive without a website these days.
Unless you have such devoted customers or are in such a small niche, you need a site.

But what are your options for designing the site?

Get someone else – a pro designer to do it for you?

But that costs money…

Get a friend or relation

Sorry I meant a wannabe web designer.

Here’s the thing – If you are paying no money, you can’t really insist on what you want.

You do it yourself

Now we are talking – but you don’t know anything about webdesign – or more importantly – layout & presentation. You don’t know your divs from your alts.

FREE TRAINING

What if we said that we wanted to GIVE AWAY our “what not to do with wordpress” training to one lucky person.

Easy to enter contest

No hunting around the web – no wild goose chases – just 3 simple steps

1. Like us on facebook

2. Send a tweet (using the oauth system so we don’t get to see your password)

3. Leave a comment below – as short or as long as you like – but there may be a bonus prize or two for the best comments.

That’s it

Winner picked at random

Off you go

PS – You can see more about this training at http://www.wpmistakes.com

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Elearning defintions or ..elearning is dead – long live elearning

I was talking to a couple of people recently about elearning.

I had to explain that we don’t use the word elearning we prefer the words ‘online training’

Why?
Elearning conjures up all sorts of images and means many things to different people. Different people have different definitions.

One of the people I spoke to when I mentioned elearning imagined “comic sans” fonts and cheesy Clipart.

Another said they couldn’t get past the idea of an American styled
‘smile training’.

Elearning has a wide variety of definitions – to listen to a ‘podcast’ is classed as elearning and that is seen as sexy and sophisticated but watching a ‘Youtube’ video (depending on the content) is also elearning but is seen as a waste of time by many.

It all comes down to – definitions – when you ‘pays ya money’ you ‘takes ya choice’

As soon as you say “elearning” to someone – be they prospective client or someone at a networking event, they put on the definition they have in their head and play the record. It’s a hard job once people have pre-conceived notions in their heads to change them.

Although using the phrase “Online training” is fraught with dangerr.

Almost without exception, people these days want knowledge but don’t want to do anything and sometimes nothing at all, about acquiring it.

The words ‘training’ and ‘learning’ imply that you will have to spend some time taking action.

However – Online training is what we do and our definition of learning is clear.

To see what it is like – click www.sharp-end-training.net

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The following is a guest article by our good friend. Mynda Treacy

What the Corporate’s Know about Training That Small Businesses Don’t.

We’re busier than ever and the economy is in a downturn.  The initial reaction is to cut spending and refrain from any unnecessary expenses.  Many businesses view training as an expense, but the Corporate’s know this is not the case

Large corporate organisations measure the results of training spend and they know that for every dollar they spend on training there is a direct impact on profit.

Just take a few moments to consider these results:

Higher Profits

• The Cheesecake Factory, one of the most successful restaurant chains in the U.S., spends about $2,000 per employee for training each year and reaps sales of $1,000 per square foot—more than twice the industry average, and they have an employee retention rate of approximately 15% higher than the national average.

• Based on the training investments of 575 companies over a three-year period, researchers found that firms investing the most in training yielded a 36.9 percent total shareholder return as compared with the 25.5 percent weighted return for the S&P 500 index for the same period. 1

• Just a 2 percent increase in productivity has been shown to net a 100 percent return on investment in training. ²

Lower Employee Turnover

• Career development is the No. 1 factor in employee retention. ³
• According to a study by Louis Harris & Associates for Interim Services Inc., companies that fail to train their employees are more than three times as likely to lose them.

• In an AON survey, respondents ranked “opportunities for personal growth” as the main reason they took their current job and stayed in that job. Significantly, they ranked it ahead of salary.

Cost Reductions, Increased Productivity and Quality

• Motorola calculated that every dollar spent on training yields an approximate 30 percent gain in productivity within a three-year period. Motorola also used training to reduce costs by over $3 billion and increase profits by 47 percent. ⁴

• The less time and money you have to spend on monitoring and guiding employees, the more you have available for other activities.

• Training improves customer satisfaction. Better-quality work means better-quality products and services . . . resulting in happier customers.

Training improves a company’s competitive edge.

• Keeping up to date keeps you competitive.

• According to Nobel Laureate Gary Becker, professor of economics and sociology at the University of Chicago, “Any company has to recognize that not only is the human capital of their employees a major asset, it is also a depreciating asset that needs continuing investment.”

That’s not to say that any training is good training. It’s important that the training undertaken is in line with your business plan objectives, whether they be to increase productivity, cut costs, or improve customer service to name a few.

One area small business can benefit greatly from training is with Microsoft Office products since they can be used to streamline processes, improve communication and increase productivity.

With the vast majority of Microsoft Office users having never had any formal training it’s an easy area to gain some quick productivity improvements, and with the introduction of online training what was once only available to those with big budgets is now available to all at a fraction of the cost and inconvenience.

To get you started you can get over 10 hours of free Microsoft Office online training at http://www.MyOnlineTrainingHub.com

“What’s worse than training your workers and losing them? Not training them and keeping them.”

—Zig Ziglar, success speaker

1. American Society for Training and Development (ASTD).
2. “The 2001 Global Training and Certification Study,” CompTIA and Prometric.
3. According to a survey of 6,400 employees conducted by consultants Sharon Jordan-Evans and Beverly Kaye.
4. Tim Lane et al., “Learning to Succeed in Business with Information Technology,” Motorola.

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The other day, we posted this article about domains.

But I realised that maybe, the cart had gone before the horse. Most people can be forgiven for not knowing their .biz from their .mobi extensions.

Plus the domain registrar companies aren’t going to bend over backwards to explain all the details to you. So we will…

All the top business strategists talk consistently about brand and personal branding. What is little talked about is the value of a domain in your brand.

The domain is the www people type in to get to your website and it really should be the corner stone of your business.

So which domain to buy and why?

(Of course you are free to register which ever domain you want and I won’t be there holding your hand on the mouse as you press the “buy” button – so use you own judgement).

.com

is obviously the heavyweight of the domain world. It’s been around the longest, people trust it. The thing to remember though is that in a few years time, the internet will still be here and .com’s (especially short ones) will be a scarce resource.

Short, pronouncable .com’s are almost all taken already.

.net

Is usually referred to as the second level behind .com. Like .com they are respected and still freely available. They were originally intended for network & IT professionals but that is no longer the case.

Get a .net domain but be careful if the .com has been taken and be even more careful if it has been developed into a site. Your customers and visitors maybe confused.

.org

.org (or .org.uk) domains are usually used by non profit making organisations and charities.

If you plan on developing some sort of advice site then .org would be a perfect choice.

.biz

.biz domains are aimed at business owners and business pure and simple. If you are a business, a .biz is a good choice.

.info

These are relatively new and can be cheaper to register than other top level domains. They don’t carry the same “weight” as the other extensions mentioned already.

.tv

.tv is actually the top level domain for the tiny pacific Island country of Tuvalu. The country sold the rights to the domain and invested the money in the infrastructure if the country.

.tv domains are generally more expensive than most top level domains but if you have a video, film or TV related business, they are an ideal choice.

.mobi

These are intended for use with mobile devices and not generally to be used on a top level development site.

There are other domain extensions which are marketed heavily by domain registrars – but – be true to yourself and remember – you are spending real money…

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If you are a start up, work from home, “mumpreneur” or any other 21st Century “new age business”, it’s likely that your website will be your primary marketing vehicle and shop window.

As far as “buying” it – you don’t actually buy it. You effectively lease the rights for sole use for a specific period. If you don’t pay the renewal fee – the domain will “drop” (watch for a future article) and the website and email attached to it will stop working.

Remember, some domains are valuable and it is worth paying for more than one year and making a note of when it expires – so you don’t lose it.

It is obviously a vital choice. Something you need to get right – so which domain to buy?

If you are a solo professional or 1 person business, you should always register your own name .com and preferably .net. If you are outside the US, get the country top level domain also. So in the UK – this would be .co.uk

Registering your own name will stop so called “cyber squatters” putting up site and asking you for a lot of money to buy it off them.

If you head a small business, think about registering your business name as follows.

1. Remember the “phone test” – Think about how you would explain your website or email over the phone. (Maybe to someone who doesn’t speak english as a native language). As a rule of thumb, if you think you are likely to run into trouble… You will…

2. Don’t worry about hyphens. There are theories that they are not liked by search engines. But as few people are party to what search engines like and don’t like, you can think of hyphens to just break up words.

3. Be careful what words you put together which normally have a space in between them. These can make the domain harder to remember and pronounce. Not what you want.

4. The shorter the better, As a general rule – short is easy to brand and fit round a logo. If possible under 10 characters.

5. Think about who you chose as your registrar. All companies offering domain registration should be registered with ICANN. But if you ever want to sell the domain, if it is not registered with one of the main players, your chances of selling it are likely to be less.
Also, some registrars will offer you cheap first year and then be more expensive afterwards. Think strategically as to how long you intend to keep the domain for.

6. You don’t have to get your hosting from the same place as your domain. Registrars will often give you a cheap domain but make up the shortfall on hosting. Don’t be taken in, again be strategic in your thinking.

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Browser plugins – Which do I need?

With the boundaries of the web being stretched with all manner of applications and different technologies being flung together, the average non technical user can be forgiven for being a bit lost.

It is not uncommon for people buying a new PC or laptop from a high street vendor to have no idea of what software is installed on it.

So which browser plugin do you need?

(And which can you do without?)

(Note there are browser plugins to do various tasks and shortcuts – especially for the firefox browser – so I have kept this list relevant to people wanting to view video and play games online.

Adobe Flash Player

One of the major reasons why Adobe bought Macromedia in 2005 was to acquire the technology behind flash.

Flash player is free and it allows you to watch videos and animations created using the paid for flash authoring tool. (Or compatible tools)

Flash player will generally prompt you when it needs to update and you should update when prompted. Flash player is installed in over 97% of new computers.

Alas, if you own an ipad or various other apple devices, you will be unable to see any flash on your device.

Shockwave player

Shockwave is the format of video and animation outputted by Macromedia Director. However, since the Adobe buyout, question marks persist over the future lifespan of Director. As a result, you probably won’t need shockwave player.

Authorware player

Authorware is a no longer supported elearning application. You should look closely at any sites requiring the authorware player. (Last time I checked, it was quite a large download also).

Quicktime player

Quicktime is a format of video produced by apple. Similar to the flash player, the free player allows you to watch media created with the paid for authoring tool.

Maybe it is because I use a PC, but I have always found this format to be unreliable and buggy.

Windows Media Player

Good old windows media player. I have no recent experience of this and it is used to watch video rather than animation and games.

So which browser plugin?

The only player you should really need to watch videos is the flash player. That’s the reason why the Sharp End Training courses are made using it.

What about you ?

Which browser plugins have you used and which have you installed and not needed?

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Basic networking skills – case study – Could you learn from Mike ?

Mike Leigh had a problem

Due to the present economic situation Mike was made redundant from a prestigious firm of architects. in keeping with the enterprising times, he decided to have a go himself.

Mike is a highly qualified architect and specialises in the conservation/regeneration sector particularly repairing, renovating and improving heritage buildings.

Mike’s knowledge is highly prized and sought after owing to it’s specialist nature. Writing an advert was going to mean expensive design work and printing with a high cost outlay .

So Mike turned to networking.

The networking environment is very crowded and soon Mike was bewildered.

At every turn he was confronted by networking offers – Breakfasts, lunches, evening events, speakers, mix and mingle all free or paid or donations made.

But Mike didn’t know the difference.

Working for a prestigious firm, he had not previously needed to sell himself.

Which should he choose? Which fitted in with the needs of his fledgling business?

So he came to use for advice

We instantly recommended our basic networking skills course and Mike jumped at the chance.

Mike said “This course really opened my eyes and I would strongly recommend it to any new business, start up, sole professional practice owner or anyone else bewildered by the word ‘Networking’.

Mike can be contacted via www.tri-design.co.uk and you can see for yourself what it was that he found so helpful and how he improved his basic networking skills – maybe it will help you too?

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So I am at an event recently.

Two people were talking in what seemed like open conversation, so I turned to face them, smiled and started listening.

They were both in some sort of financial services type sector. It was clear from the body language that one of them had been doing most of the talking. He was stood slightly forward and the other person was shuffling awkwardly from foot to foot.

They carried on talking, both smiled at me. Neither made any effort to engage me.

I am pretty sure I would have engaged a “stranger” as an “escape route” if I was being “spoken at” – But no.

Conversation continues – one sided. After a minute or two – he looks at his watch and says, rightio, time to go.

Shakes hands with us both and says

“Sorry, I didn’t get your name”

“Jonathan” I replied

“OK, well nice to meet you Jonathan” he says

(thinks) – “Yes but we didn’t did we?” You spoke AT me and then left.

Maybe I was a potential client, maybe I was a competitor, maybe I could have referred you loads of work.

Thing is, you will never know…

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