Business Archives

Do you sell digital productos online?

February 6, 2015 Leave a Comment Netklik

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Sell digital products online A few weeks ago I found out about new VAT rules for the sale of digital products on the internet and this poses a real problem for all those small and big companies that sell digital products to end users in the EU.

The changes affect mainly those companies that sell directly to consumers in the EU. This new rule is effective since January 1st, 2015.

If you have clients that reside in the EU, you have to charge a tax based on the country where your client is located, no matter where the buyer is at the moment of the sale. Each country of the EU has its own tax rate.

This means that your company is responsible of charging the different tax rates when selling to different countries in the EU. In addition your company is also responsible of paying the tax in the country where your client is located.

What are Digital Products?

You are probably wondering what these products are. The new rule applies to pdfs, stock photos, online courses, software downloads, video game downloads, ebooks, music, hosting services, etc.

This is a huge problem for those businesses that want to continue to sell their digital products in the EU, as well as for the consumers. As a result of this new ruling, there isn’t the slightest doubt that costs of affected products and services are going to increase.

For more information you can read the article by Zarek Rahman:

VAT: Will it see the demise of the digital economy?

This post is mainly for information purposes. If you think that his will affect your business, it is important that you get advice from an expert in this area.

Online Consumer Behavior

February 4, 2015 Leave a Comment Netklik

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A few days ago I had the opportunity t oread the following article by Hiroko Tabuchi:

As Profit Slows, Ikea Notes Need to Move Online

The article caught my attention, because I always thought that Ikea did not push online sales, but rather promoted sales in their stores. In most cases, their high shipping costs were higher than the product itself.

As consumers, we have 2 options. The first one is to go the store, if there is an Ikea near where we live. The second option is to continue looking for our item in another store near us o with more reasonable shipping costs. I considered this the wrong strategy. When a store has a potential buyer, they should try to keep them on their website instead of sending them to competitors website to compare prices of products or services.

In my opinion, this is what Ikea has been doing, and we don’t know how long they will be able to continue doing it.

The article was interesting, as I believe that when a business decides to have a website to offer its products or services, they have to keep an open mind in relation to the use and objective of their website.

Refine the online marketing strategy

Quite a while ago, I remember having a conversation with a doctor in his office about the purpose of his future website. He was convinced this website would only include his address, office hours and some other information about his services. The last thing this doctor imagined was that this website was going to attract patients from other cities that he was going to be invited to give presentations in different conferences, etc. In this case, even though the doctor did not have any expectations for his website, he had an open mind and understood the need to adapt and use new technologies.

Taking into consideration consumer behavior in online marketing strategies

The other side of the coin is when stores have informative websites of their products and services but don’t have online ecommerce. In these cases, it this important for the business owners to understand the consumer expectations, to better match the vision and objectives of the store. I will explain through an anecdote. A store cannot ignore the everyday internet changes and the way these affect consumer behavior.

How can I help you?

If you don’t know where to start, I can help you analyze the real objectives of your only marketing strategy in the short, medium and long term and guide you in deciding what steps to take next to refine your only marketing.

Search engine marketing and blogging

January 29, 2015 Leave a Comment Netklik

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I frequently remind my clients about the importance of having a blog and about keeping it up to date by regularly writing articles for it, related to their business or industry. In my opinion, blogging is without any doubt an essential part of search engine marketing strategy for their business.

It has been demonstrated in different opportunities that blogging improves web site positioning.

The article by Rich Burnes, Study Shows Business Blogging Leads to 55% More Website Visitors , even though written a few years ago, mentions the results of businesses that use blogging Vs those that don’t, and the results speak for themselves.

The more and better material is covered in your website/blog, the greater are the probabilities of attaining a better search engine marketing results. Along the same lines, if your blog has more articles with engaging and dynamic content, there is a higher probability that they will be included in Google’s and other search engine results.

Have you noticed that many successful businesses have blogs?

Obviously, blogs work!

Have you seeing that Google search results often include posts’ information?

This confirms the importance of adding new content frequently and continuously. The older the content of your blog, the better your website it is seeing by Google and other search engines.

Every day, adding fresh content to your website is more important in search engine marketing, and an easy way to do this without making changes to your website is through the publishing of articles on your blog.

6 Example of content types that you can use on your blog as part of your search engine marketing strategy

News relevant to your industry, for example: new laws, products, etc.
Information on new products and/or services you offer
Testimonials about your products and/or services
Examples of how individuals or businesses have benefited from using your products and/or services
Examples of how your products and/or services solve problems
Information about events and/or workshops you offer

As you can see, the range of information to be shared is ample. But, from my own experience, I know it is not easy to write regularly. In many cases, the problem consists in implementing a system that will allow us to produce content. If there is no available person to follow through, it is possible to contract this service from a professional. The key is to assign this responsibility to one person, either inside or outside of your business.

How can I help you?

If you don’t know where to start, I can help you decide, which possible topics would be interesting to include in your blog. If you want to go deeper, we can create a list of specific topics to post in the next 12 months. If you still have doubts about how to position your website in the search engines, don’t hesitate to contact me.

The power of change: Amazon continues to innovate

October 13, 2014 Leave a Comment Netklik

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Without the slightest doubt, Amazon has become the internet “store” where my family and I most frequently shop. Personally, I find it helpful to have consumer reviews when researching any product, as well as the ability to receive the product in 2 days, in the US. Lately, we even have received the orders the following day, shipped by a local private shipper.

Here are some recent news that have caught my attention.

The following article en Amazon Spain explains how Amazon is making big changes in its operation in Spain. Amazon has decided to open 1,200 establishments, where the client can choose to pick up his order, instead of receiving it by mail.

In addition, Amazon is offering same day delivery of selected items for Madrid residents, when orders are placed during a certain time frame.

And to cap it all, I read the following article Amazon to Open First Brick-and-Mortar Site that describes how this internet giant announces the opening of a store in New York. Obviously, the success attained in their website marketing is not enough for Amazon. In the New York store, people will be able to shop for Amazon designed products, like the Kindle, Kindle Fire, etc. The idea is to promote the Amazon brand. If this first physical store is a success, Amazon will probably continue to open new stores around the country.

These are excellent examples of the importance to adopt new strategies and incorporate changes, in order to innovate every day.

The Importance of Change

October 13, 2014 Leave a Comment Netklik

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For a few days now I have been thinking about “change”.

Last year has been a year of major changes in the internet industry, such as: the constant changes Google has been making to its algorithms, the accelerated development of new web technologies, the exponential growth of social media, the use of smart phones for all our everyday activities, etc.

I have been trying to decide what the best way to manage these changes is, for small businesses, professionals and individuals. The “normal” way we used to work up to now is not efficient for at present, and will be less efficient tomorrow, as we live in a state of constant change.

Nowadays, one can’t deny the need to adopt new technologies for professionals and small businesses. The cost of not adopting new technologies to promote a business is very elevated, not only because we can’t afford not to do it while our competitors are doing it, but also because as a business and individual we are not learning. It is important to have a flexible attitude and to maintain our business focus, while enjoying the process.

2010 Year in Review, Lessons Learned: Investing on your Business

June 4, 2011 Leave a Comment Netklik

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As 2010 year came to an end we knew it was time to review our year’s accomplishments and to start planning for the new year.

As some of you may know, I launched NetKlik over 12 years ago. At first we started offering Small Business Website Design with time we have added a range of Internet Marketing Services for Small Businesses. Over this period of time I have defined a set of business guidelines that have helped me to manage the business side of Netklik, you see as small business we suffer from the problems other small business do, which is finding the time to work on the business side of the business, as strange as the this may sound.

The year 2010 year was a year of growth, not only in terms of client’s and projects but also because we worked on taking the business to the next level, technology and business wise

As many small business do, we also struggle with time management. I started the year by thinking of ways we could optimize the use of our time.

In order to be able to work on this we needed to be able to track our time and have a better understanding on how we where using it.

As a result of this exercise, I realize it was important to set new guidelines and establish new work systems that would help me manage the workload and streamline our main processes.

Below are some of our accomplishments:

1. Optimizing our billing process
We decided it was important to break up our billing work in pieces. This way we work on it through the month. Instead of assigning a few days to only billing work.

2. Selecting a tool for contact management
We now manage our contacts, tasks and calendar through a contact management tool. All the information about a project or client resides in one place!

3. Streamlining internal processes with step by step instructions.
We now have a list of internal processes with steps by steps instructions that we can refer to every time it’s needed. We also add to this list on day to day basis.

6. Improved website design process by choosing WordPress and Thesis as development framework.
It was also important to work on a development system. WordPress and Thesis allows us to achieve this. I will write more about this on a different post.

7. Optimize and Improved client’s monthly marketing reports
We made our reports easier to read and added relevant and useful information. We will continue to work on them.

8. Found thinking partners
I heard about this term recently. I have team up with other professionals from web industry. It’s important for us to be able to talk about our ideas and brainstorm before putting them to practice, many times we also work together. This has added tremendous value to our work.

9. Investing in the business
Investing in tools like software for web development and business management. This is one of the most important lessons I learned. We would have not been able to accomplish half of the things that we did if we had not invested in the right tools.

10. Establish a system that allows me to incorporate new goals and objectives
It’s important to be able to write down every new idea, about the business or a project and have a system in place that allows me to incorporate this to a day to day work.

Let us know how your experience was for 2010 and join us and we will help you launch your online journey on 2011!.

The importance of Websites for Small Businesses

February 7, 2011 Leave a Comment 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.