kdr ebusiness

Before the Internet, companies used press clipping services to understand what the market thought about them. The rise of social media means that it has become increasingly important for companies to understand what is being said about them on the Internet. Now with the re-release of Google Alerts it’s become possible for anybody to track what is being said about their favorite subject.

You can set up Google Alerts to e-mail you whenever your company name is used. Alternatively you might like to track keywords or phrases that are relevant to your businesses marketplace. It’s an important contribution to understanding how your business is seen by the outside world.

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“If you don’t measure it, you can’t manage it”

This old management adage is still relevant today, but many companies still use a scattergun approach for their internet marketing efforts. If you have no idea what worked and what didn’t, you will end up wasting money. You need to set goals, measure them, and then keep refining your efforts to achieve the best results you can. What worked last quarter might not work this quarter, so this should become part of a continuous process.

There are so many different aspects to an internet marketing campaign that it is difficult to know where to start, so we put our heads together and came up with this diagram of areas to consider for an integrated internet marketing campaign.

We’ve left out a lot of fine detail, but this should give you an overview of what may be involved.

If there’s anything you think we’ve missed or if you have a question, please leave a comment and we’ll do our best to answer it.

Tags: continuous process, internet marketing, integrated internet marketing

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OK, so you have a business website, that’s great, what’s next?

Well rather a lot more than you may have thought.

Your website costs you money, so what do you expect to get back as a result? Did you decide what your objectives were for the website? How do you measure its effectiveness?

When your only advertising was a line in the yellow pages, it wasn’t possible to determine how someone found your number unless you asked the question. But with a website it is possible to record visits to your site, where they came from (referrals) and also which areas of the site they were more interested in. By analysing visitor behaviour, and by setting goals and objectives for your website, it is much easier to fine tune your site so that it becomes an effective business tool, rather than a static brochure.

Statistics tools like Google Analytics enable you to easily track how each part of your site is performing, how you direct (funnel) people to the areas you want them to see, how long they spent at the site, and which page they left from, plus many more besides.

Your website can be so much more effective than a brochure, because a brochure can’t tell you how it gets used. A website can.

Tags: brochure, Statistics tools, Google Analytics, website

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Frequently seen on many websites are forms and email addresses for contacting or for providing feedback. If you have this on your website, do you know how many people have contacted you via this method? And what they said? And what your response was? And what your business learned from it?

So far my experience of feedback forms has been underwhelming to say the least.

• Some ask for way too much personal information, which leads me to suspect why they need to have so much detail.
• Some never respond to customer feedback at all. This is like being ignored at the shop counter!
• Many have no other way of contacting the company - no telephone number anywhere to be found

Think of the customer experiencing poor or zero response to their enquiry and how long this will affect their opinion of your business. With more people turning to the internet to find and select the goods and services they need, you need to make sure that you have a consistent and transparent approach to capturing and responding to customer feedback.

If a person bothers to fill in a feedback form - you already have their attention - now you must work to keep it, and convert it into a sale.

Tags: feedback, website, business, personal information, customer feedback, internet, feedback form, attention

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At the start of the Internet revolution, there was a sense that the internet was a separate place. This sentiment was neatly expressed in the name “Cyberspace”.
More recently we have heard about the Virtual Office, On-line Collaboration and all manner of variations on this theme. Many companies and individuals, particularly in niche service industries, are benefitting from technologies that allow them to work together in teams, without ever having to meet in the physical world. My own company uses the services of different specialists from around the world in order to help us to achieve our objectives.
Fantastic.

BUT

What about those business and industries for whom physical location is very important? If I ran a hat hire company based in Cheshire, would I really need customers in Seattle? or for that matter in Lancashire? If I ran a hairdessing salon in Luton, how far would I expect customers to travel? If I ran a Hotel, how could I help people to find where we are?

Location for these types of businesses is critically important.
The good news is there is a rapid emergence of Mapping and Location aware services and search tools, With offerings from the big players, Microsoft, Google and Yahoo. If you’re interested in trying some out - I’ve included some links from our resources page.

So if location is important to your business, you need to plan how your existing internet presence can be made location savvy. In the very near future, people need to be able to find you by searching a map, as well as by text search.

Tags: Cyberspace, Virtual Office, Collaboration, location, Mapping, Microsoft, Google, Yahoo

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KDR Ebusiness are delighted to be accepted as members of the Isle of Man Chamber of Commerce. Here’s a preview of our introductory article:

KDR Ebusiness was established to provide IT management services to the Isle of Man business community.

The best solution for your business demands creativity and impartiality, so we operate independently from IT Hardware and Software suppliers. Helping your company to benefit from its IT investment is our primary concern.

Our specialists can help with many aspects of IT, including IT Management, System Integration, Infrastructure Management, Accountancy Software, Website Design and Systems Security.

We are passionate about Customer Service and take pride in being honest, approachable, reliable and professional.

Our website has further details about our services.

Tags: KDR, Ebusiness, KDR Ebusiness, Isle of Man, business, IT Management, System Integration, Infrastructure Management, Accountancy Software, Website Design, Systems Security

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If someone has to reach for the phonebook to find your number, you are making it too difficult for them to contact you. By the time they have found the phonebook they have probably forgotten what they wanted to call you for in the first place.

When your email is opened by someone, you’ve got their attention, albeit briefly. You can increase your chances of making contact by making sure your email signature has the following information:

Your Name
Your Telephone Number
Your Website Address

You might also add:

Your Job Title
Your Mobile Number
Your Fax Number
Your Business Tagline

here’s an example signature to show you what I mean:

…
regards,

Robert J. Mercer
Director
Tel: +44 1624 838700
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Visit our website: www.kdrebusiness.com
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KDR EBusiness provide impartial, independent, information technology advice to the Isle of Man business community

Tags: KDR, EBusiness, Isle of Man

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