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Is your website working? – 2. Or, how do you eat an elephant?

EdHart — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:18:00 +0000

As anticipated, my last blog about a simple web site related topic like the conversion rate between visitors to your web site and the number of potential customers engaging with you (for example by completing a contact form) created quite a bit of correspondence.

The vast majority of comments emphasised complex and (to be fair) quite interesting ideas about how to get the best out of your website. But I felt they missed the point. Most businesses are run by hard working individuals who have not got time to understand and implement subtle marketing ploys.

Which brings me to the question of how you eat an elephant. The answer is, of course, a mouthful at a time. To try and take too big a bite out of a problem leaves you with bad indigestion.

You need a website for two reasons, to increase your brand awareness, and to generate sales, and not necessarily both at the same time. Whatever tactics you use to achieve your goal need to be SMART (Google this if you can’t remember the acronym!).

I believe that life is complicated enough without making it harder than it needs to be.

The next time you want to make your business better, talk to someone who can talk to you about it in simple “plain English”.

Identify the problem, break it into manageable chunks, and deal with it! Life is hard enough, without it being taxing.

The Great Blog Debate

EdHart — Wed, 13 May 2009 08:58:46 +0000

Blogging as a way of communicating is being debated. Is it a good thing, is it just plain self-indulgent? Is it right to give the general public the ability to speak, well, so publically? http://journalismleadersforum.blogspot.com/2009/05/12th-forum-itv-news-chief-times-web.html

As with all forms of media, from the first printing press to twitter, there are those who just don’t get it, and those who do. There are those who use it well, and those who don’t.

Blogging is a relatively new medium that might yet have its place in history, but that place has to be fought for and proven. Twas ever thus.

I believe it can be a force for good, and Jo Geary’s eloquent support is key to its survival.
http://www.joannageary.com/2009/05/13/qit8-im-sick-and-tired-of-this-infernal-blog-debate/

You are not alone

EdHart — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:20:04 +0000

After following this blog for many weeks, and appreciating how much I have learnt from it, I thought I’d share the link:
http://www.financeweek.co.uk/ceos-diary

It’s the story of a CEO facing the same day to day issues and dilemmas that every business manager has.

OK, you may have more or less zero’s on the end of your income and expenditure targets, but the honesty, relevance, and rawness of his story is just great.

It may help to read the blog from the start, so grab a cup of your favourite brew, and enjoy.

Socially advanced technology

EdHart — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 15:25:42 +0000

Just had a meeting with someone who confessed she did not possess a socially advanced phone. I suddenly had a sense of man and machine being closer than I had previously feared.

Are we now so reliant on technology that our social interaction depends on having the latest gizmo? Are we approaching a point where technology might replace face to face meetings to provide social interaction? Might your hard, or soft, ware dictate your social group? Maybe it’s been like this for a while, but is the point becoming more pressing?

Has the debate about have and have-not’s been extended to those who have the right gizmo’s, and those who don’t?

Are face-to-face meetings and social-technology two circles that overlap perfectly?