Case In Point: Building a Web Business Doesn’t Have To Cost a Fortune

Written by Karon Thackston


by Karon Thackston © 2003 http://www.ktamarketing.com

Ask Bobette Kyle about building a Web business on a small business budget, and you’ll be amazed what she’ll tell you about planning and coordination. By getting torepparttar heart ofrepparttar 106034 online business structure, Bobette saves small businesses lots of time and money. She’s agreed to talk with us today and to share a little of her wealth of knowledge.

KARON: Hi Bobette. I’m excited about our time together.

BOBETTE: Thanks, Karon. Me, too!

KARON: I’ve read your book, and can’t believerepparttar 106035 depth of information you’ve included. You cut throughrepparttar 106036 fluff and get right down torepparttar 106037 hard-core information. Butrepparttar 106038 title had me curious. Tell me why you choserepparttar 106039 name "How Much for Justrepparttar 106040 Spider"?

BOBETTE: Well, just like a spider plans and implements it’s web, a Web-based business also has to develop a marketing plan before implementing a Website.

The title alludes torepparttar 106041 need for cost effective planning and marketing tools. Small businesses want or need to do a lot of work themselves so they look for ways to inexpensively acquire "Justrepparttar 106042 Spider" (i.e.repparttar 106043 know-how) to create and implement a marketing plan.

KARON: Ahh! Good play on words. And very true, too. I know I’ve spoken with many new online business owners think if they build a site, people will automatically flock to it. We both know this is simply not true. It takes a lot of planning and marketing to operate a profitable site. What do you consider to berepparttar 106044 first, and most fundamental, step?

BOBETTE: So true, Karon. And many existing online businesses are still struggling because of lack of planning. The step I consider to be most “foundational” for business owners is understanding their industry, their competition, andrepparttar 106045 customers they want to attract. These things drive decisions allrepparttar 106046 way downrepparttar 106047 line and moldrepparttar 106048 marketing plan.

KARON: I couldn’t agree more! Anyone whose known me for any time at all will tell you how I preach about knowing your target audience.

BOBETTE: Exactly! These three things affectrepparttar 106049 whole business model, howrepparttar 106050 site is put together, what kind of content it contains, and strategies for marketingrepparttar 106051 site. Before going any further in your planning, takerepparttar 106052 time to get as much information as you can about your industry, competition and customers.

KARON: But that’s not all there is to it, right? Throughout your book I noticedrepparttar 106053 wonderful job you did of outlining and explainingrepparttar 106054 various tactics a site owner could choose when implementingrepparttar 106055 steps of planning. What works best in actually choosingrepparttar 106056 most appropriate tactics for an individual site?

BOBETTE: There are a lot of tactics out there. Many site owners cannot decide which ones will work, so they give most of them a try to "see what sticks.” Mostly, this approach fails because it spreads resources too thin and implementation suffers.

Clients..... Do You Really Need Them?

Written by Lorraine Pirihi


Running a successful business takes a lot of energy and there are so many areas that as a business owner you need to pay attention too.

It's not enough to spend heaps of time, money and resources into getting buyers for your goods and services and then leaving those clients/customers to their own devices.

If you want to work less, have more time and make more money one very important aspect you have to take care of on an ongoing basis is nurturing those people who are prepared to spend their money with you.

You cannot afford to take their money, sellrepparttar goods or performrepparttar 106033 services and then hope they will call you when they need too.

The Hairdresser A couple of weeks ago I visited my hairdresser for my regular appointment. Now I have been loyally going to this hairdresser for at least 2 years, approximately every six weeks.

On this particular occasion there were a couple of clients having their hair coloured andrepparttar 106034 owner and another assistant were fawning over three kittens which had kindly been supplied byrepparttar 106035 local vet. Apparentlyrepparttar 106036 vet was looking for a good home forrepparttar 106037 kittens and John,the owner and another staff member were going to take them home. The kittens were stayingrepparttar 106038 afternoon atrepparttar 106039 salon forrepparttar 106040 benefit of their new owners (my hairdresser and his assistant).

So here we were in an upmarket salon, with three kittens running around andrepparttar 106041 staff paying more attention to them thanrepparttar 106042 clients.

The second incident that occurred happened after I had my hair washed. I was left sitting in a chair waiting whilst John who is my hairdresser casually took his time looking at another client's holiday photos. That wasted at least 5 minutes. (Some people may not be bothered about having their time wasted, but unfortunately for John, I wasn't one of them).

When he finally comes over, instead of asking me how am I going, or commenting aboutrepparttar 106043 condition of my hair, he proceeds to tell me allrepparttar 106044 details about his life (as he usually does) and is so focussed on himself he was oblivious torepparttar 106045 fact that without people like me (a paying client), he wouldn't be in business.

It doesn't end there. The final straw came when his mobile phone rang inrepparttar 106046 middle of my haircut. With no apology or saying to me "excuse me, I must take this call ", he answersrepparttar 106047 phone and wanders off for another 5 minutes.

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