February 2011 - Netklik

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Your website is an integral part of any business, small or large. In fact, for a small business, the role of the website is even more important, only because a small business may have less marketing resources than a larger business.

Often, when I start to work with a new client, my relationship starts with the business owner. The advantage of this is that I get to know the heart and soul of the business and I also have a clearer picture of what the business goals are.

In the process of growing the business, many times it’s important for business owners to bring in a new marketing professional to assist them with marketing efforts such branding, brochures, newsletters and of course the website.

This is a very important move for the business owner and also is a good sign that the business is growing.

It’s important for the business owner to understand is that the transition from being involved with the site to not been involved should be done slowly. I understand that the main reason for having a new marketing person in charge is to help the business owner free up time. But as you may know by now, it’s not the same to tell someone “I need you to be responsible for preparing the next brochure” as saying to the same person, “I need you to be in charge of the website”, because as we know, your website internet strategy is not as simple as a brochure.

Let me give you a visual example. Let’s say that you are in the restaurant business and own and operate a small restaurant; you have had it for a few years, and the restaurant is doing great. One day, you hear that the retail space next door to yours becomes available; it’s a great opportunity for you to expand the restaurant. Then, you choose to hire an architect to help you redesign the new space. You could decide that the redesigning task is too big and not in your area of expertise, and you let the architect make all the decisions. Most probably this is not a good idea, because as you know, the architect does not have the same restaurant experience as you do, as the business owner.

What I am trying to say is that it’s important that you do not separate yourself entirely from the website, in the same way that you can not separate yourself from your business.

You, as a small business owner need to be involved and understand your internet strategy because nobody else understands your business better than you do.

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I recently had the opportunity to observe my son decide which was the right video game he wanted to purchase with his own money. Below are some of the questions and thoughts that came to his mind.

1. How am I going to recuperate this money, once I spend it?

2. Should I try to sell one of my old video games? One that I do not enjoy playing anymore? How much would I get for it?

In the past, when the games he wanted where gifts, he would choose a game that he played at a friends house, games that he had seen on tv commercials, or even games he heard other kids talk about.

The difference this time was that he was going to get the game with his own money. After a visit to the store and finding out how expensive the games were when he buys them with his own money, and finding out how little money he would get from this old game, things did not look so great.

He decided he would have to get a less expensive game so he wouldn’t spend all his money at once. He still needed to choose the game. This time he asked me if he could go online and look at the games. We sat together at the computer and to my surprise he was looking at reviews and videos of the video games. It did not take him very long to choose the game he wanted. Of course he did not want to wait for the game to be shipped. We checked online to see which store carried his game and went there the following day. He decided he was going to sell an old video game, despite the fact that he was not getting much for it, so we wouldn’t have to spend more of his own money. To our surprise he got more money for his video game than what was offered to him at the first place he went.

I was amazed how the internet helped him make a decision that he was happy with.