It is the month of August, on the shores of the Black Sea. It is raining, and the little town looks totally deserted. It is tough times, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit.
Suddenly, a rich tourist comes to town. He enters the only hotel, lays a 100 Euro note on the reception counter, and goes to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to choose one. The hotel proprietor takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the butcher.
The butcher takes the 100 Euro note, and runs to pay his debt to the pig grower. The pig grower takes the 100 Euro note, and runs to pay his debt to the supplier of his feed and fuel. The supplier of feed and fuel takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the town's prostitute that in these hard times, gave her "services" on credit. The hooker runs to the hotel, and pays off her debt with the 100 Euro note to the hotel proprietor to pay for the rooms that she rented when she brought her clients there.
The hotel proprietor then lays the 100 Euro note back on the counter so that the rich tourist will not suspect anything.
At that moment, the tourist comes down after inspecting the rooms, and takes his 100 Euro note, after saying that he did not like any of the rooms, and leaves town.
No one earned anything. However, the whole town is now without debt, and looks to the future with a lot of optimism.... .
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
Help Others - Help Yourself
I'm always brightened by the enthusiasm within new and pre-start businesses at sales & marketing training sessions. Yesterday was no exception. A diverse collection of traditional and innovative business ideas. I wish them all success as they are putting in plenty of thought, action and hard work.
I'm certain that doing those training days does my businesses brain the world of good too.
How could you help others that might help you too?
I'm certain that doing those training days does my businesses brain the world of good too.
How could you help others that might help you too?
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Local Business Website Profit Success
Norwich based, up-market gents hairdressers Truman's wanted a web site that would do justice to their quality men's grooming services and desirable Elm Hill location. Within days the website, created by Alloy CRM, was ranking at the top of the search engine listing for their keywords and phrases.
Just as icing on the cake, after just a few days, Truman's received a call from a lady in Felixtowe who had found them in the search listings. She went on to book a top of the range grooming day for the special man in her life - business, and valuable revenue, that could not have come about just a few weeks earlier.
You can see Truman's site here: http://www.trumansofnorwich.co.uk
Alloy CRM can create websites with excellent Search Engine Optimisation ( SEO )and generate profit for Small businesses at sensible prices.
Just as icing on the cake, after just a few days, Truman's received a call from a lady in Felixtowe who had found them in the search listings. She went on to book a top of the range grooming day for the special man in her life - business, and valuable revenue, that could not have come about just a few weeks earlier.
You can see Truman's site here: http://www.trumansofnorwich.co.uk
Alloy CRM can create websites with excellent Search Engine Optimisation ( SEO )and generate profit for Small businesses at sensible prices.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Testimonials make it all worth while.
I received a great testimonial from a grateful client today:
" I saw a prospect in November it came to nothing.
He was nosing at my website as it's the new tax year etc. He saw the video and was very impressed and has just signed up. A significant annual fee!
Many thanks :-) :-) "
That was from Simon Clarke, a partner at Great Yarmouth Accountants, HW Chartered Accountants.
What did I do to make it happen? I produced this short business video for HW Accountants just a few weeks ago and Simon uploaded it to his web page just last week.
I always look for ways to maximise the use of the Internet to increase leads, sales and profits. It has been my strong opinion for some time that the use of video on websites help build trust and confidence. This just proves it!
If you do the Return on Investment sums I should think that it comes out pretty well!
Need a video like that on your site? Call me at Alloy CRM and have a look at some other interesting video on my Alloy CRM video channel at You Tube.
" I saw a prospect in November it came to nothing.
He was nosing at my website as it's the new tax year etc. He saw the video and was very impressed and has just signed up. A significant annual fee!
Many thanks :-) :-) "
That was from Simon Clarke, a partner at Great Yarmouth Accountants, HW Chartered Accountants.
What did I do to make it happen? I produced this short business video for HW Accountants just a few weeks ago and Simon uploaded it to his web page just last week.
I always look for ways to maximise the use of the Internet to increase leads, sales and profits. It has been my strong opinion for some time that the use of video on websites help build trust and confidence. This just proves it!
If you do the Return on Investment sums I should think that it comes out pretty well!
Need a video like that on your site? Call me at Alloy CRM and have a look at some other interesting video on my Alloy CRM video channel at You Tube.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Websites with a commercial focus
There is more to a website than making it look pretty.
The whole purpose of a commercial website is to increase sales, revenue and therefore profit.
Without having that as your foundation what is the point of spending a great deal of money to achieve nothing?
I sat with a small local organisation recently. They are not, and don't need to be, commercially focused. Or at least they didn't think they were.
Just because they're not my traditional target market didn't mean that I would skip my interrogation of their financial position and reasoning behind the decision to have a good web presence.
Digging around I discovered that they are a charity and require money to maintain their building. They have spare capacity for hire and filling their venue would go a long way to alleviating their financial needs.
So yes, the right web presence could have the desired effect and, if done properly, could attract hirers who are prepared to pay more than they are currently charging.
But there's more...
Using my commercially creative side I have suggested a way in which the website could generate its own recurring revenue without a great deal of effort. I won't go into details here as it's still in its embryonic stage at the moment. But suffice to say that the business model is sound and could transform their facility for everyone in their community.
You don't have to be in a commercial environment to use commercial logic. But doing so can resolve a surprising number of non commercial issues and problems.
Need help with your website profits ? Alloy CRM
The whole purpose of a commercial website is to increase sales, revenue and therefore profit.
Without having that as your foundation what is the point of spending a great deal of money to achieve nothing?
I sat with a small local organisation recently. They are not, and don't need to be, commercially focused. Or at least they didn't think they were.
Just because they're not my traditional target market didn't mean that I would skip my interrogation of their financial position and reasoning behind the decision to have a good web presence.
Digging around I discovered that they are a charity and require money to maintain their building. They have spare capacity for hire and filling their venue would go a long way to alleviating their financial needs.
So yes, the right web presence could have the desired effect and, if done properly, could attract hirers who are prepared to pay more than they are currently charging.
But there's more...
Using my commercially creative side I have suggested a way in which the website could generate its own recurring revenue without a great deal of effort. I won't go into details here as it's still in its embryonic stage at the moment. But suffice to say that the business model is sound and could transform their facility for everyone in their community.
You don't have to be in a commercial environment to use commercial logic. But doing so can resolve a surprising number of non commercial issues and problems.
Need help with your website profits ? Alloy CRM
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Important Twitter News - Read Now!
Just a quick post about some interesting news I saw today.
Twitter, the social networking site, is about to launch it's own comprehensive search engine within it's own results.
Why is that significant?
Loads of people 'Tweet' interesting web links to their followers. So these pages will have been given a great vote of confidence as being interesting, important or just entertaining. It will also you the value of the 'Tweeter' too. I guess that means the number of updates and followers?
The new Twitter search engine will follow these links, analyse the pages for key words and content, then return them in the search results.
Wow! If you're not Tweeting your latest blog now, best you get doing it sharpish!
It will also you the value of the 'Tweeter' too
Here's the article:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10235360-2.html
Need help with your online marketing and website profit? Alloy CRM
Twitter, the social networking site, is about to launch it's own comprehensive search engine within it's own results.
Why is that significant?
Loads of people 'Tweet' interesting web links to their followers. So these pages will have been given a great vote of confidence as being interesting, important or just entertaining. It will also you the value of the 'Tweeter' too. I guess that means the number of updates and followers?
The new Twitter search engine will follow these links, analyse the pages for key words and content, then return them in the search results.
Wow! If you're not Tweeting your latest blog now, best you get doing it sharpish!
It will also you the value of the 'Tweeter' too
Here's the article:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10235360-2.html
Need help with your online marketing and website profit? Alloy CRM
Friday, April 17, 2009
Tips for using video to gain customers
It's reasonably well accepted that having a video on your site can be good for buyer confidence, good for sales and if hosted correctly, good for SEO too.
But there's some things you must do to ensure that you get maximum benefit.
Let's start with the video its self:
Don't make it too long
Boredom thresholds are low. Our exposure to modern day 'bite sized' TV programming and short, snappy adverts that are mini stories in their own right means we are intolerant of anything that labours a point. A front page video snippet shouldn't be more than a minute or so long. If longer is required, create a short 'taster' for the front page and a link to the full version further into the site.
Make it have a purpose
Just like the headlines and content of your site, your video should be focused on drawing in your visitor by providing useful and interesting content. If it's to gain your visitors confidence then tell them how you've successfully helped others for example.
Make it interesting, amazing or funny
A difficult one this as it won't always come off. But if you can do it you have the chance of it going viral - a link to your video forwarded on to loads of other people with the obvious business benefits that it would bring.
Where you host you video is important too:
Hosting on your servers
Not always the best option. However, if you have long videos or you want better quality it might be the right way to go.
Hosting on Video Sites
External hosting avoids the possibility of racking up bandwidth charges if its popular. The biggest bonus is that your video might be seen by more people and gain you extra business. There's a load to choose from with YouTube the most popular and well known. Google videos no longer accepts new uploads presumably because of their YouTube purchase.
How you setup the video on the hosting is really important as the whole point of the exercise is to attract visitors to your site:
Choosing a user name
Just like themeing for your website, the user name you choose ought to be keyword based to help with SEO
Setting up the description
You always have the option to write a short description which will show up next to your video (or at least the first few lines) Kick this off with your web address. Start it with http:// and it will automatically be a clickable hyperlink, so if they like what they see, you are only a click away.
Also include, in the description, your keywords and phrases that match your target. Include them in the tags too. That will help push your video up the listings when someone does an appropriate search.
Start a Channel
This is a customisable area to showcase your videos with its own description and profile that can include all your SEO friendly keywords. The channel also shows your favorite videos and those people who are following you. So just like any other Social Media exercise you should find ways to increase your following.
If you need help with getting effective video onto your website contact me at Alloy CRM.
But there's some things you must do to ensure that you get maximum benefit.
Let's start with the video its self:
Don't make it too long
Boredom thresholds are low. Our exposure to modern day 'bite sized' TV programming and short, snappy adverts that are mini stories in their own right means we are intolerant of anything that labours a point. A front page video snippet shouldn't be more than a minute or so long. If longer is required, create a short 'taster' for the front page and a link to the full version further into the site.
Make it have a purpose
Just like the headlines and content of your site, your video should be focused on drawing in your visitor by providing useful and interesting content. If it's to gain your visitors confidence then tell them how you've successfully helped others for example.
Make it interesting, amazing or funny
A difficult one this as it won't always come off. But if you can do it you have the chance of it going viral - a link to your video forwarded on to loads of other people with the obvious business benefits that it would bring.
Where you host you video is important too:
Hosting on your servers
Not always the best option. However, if you have long videos or you want better quality it might be the right way to go.
Hosting on Video Sites
External hosting avoids the possibility of racking up bandwidth charges if its popular. The biggest bonus is that your video might be seen by more people and gain you extra business. There's a load to choose from with YouTube the most popular and well known. Google videos no longer accepts new uploads presumably because of their YouTube purchase.
How you setup the video on the hosting is really important as the whole point of the exercise is to attract visitors to your site:
Choosing a user name
Just like themeing for your website, the user name you choose ought to be keyword based to help with SEO
Setting up the description
You always have the option to write a short description which will show up next to your video (or at least the first few lines) Kick this off with your web address. Start it with http:// and it will automatically be a clickable hyperlink, so if they like what they see, you are only a click away.
Also include, in the description, your keywords and phrases that match your target. Include them in the tags too. That will help push your video up the listings when someone does an appropriate search.
Start a Channel
This is a customisable area to showcase your videos with its own description and profile that can include all your SEO friendly keywords. The channel also shows your favorite videos and those people who are following you. So just like any other Social Media exercise you should find ways to increase your following.
If you need help with getting effective video onto your website contact me at Alloy CRM.
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