4 Traits of a Good ISP for Small Businesses
Whether you’re working from home or providing internet to your small business’s office, there’s more to consider when choosing an internet service provider (ISP) for business than for personal use. Even with an office of only 8 people, internet failure for one hour means an entire business day’s worth of productivity went out the window. While no internet service can be perfect all the time, some providers are more reliable than others. If you’re looking into a new internet service for your small business, be sure to keep an eye out for these criteria:
24/7 Customer Support
Technology is not always our friend, which is why you need the best friends you can find at your ISP. A quality tech support service will be available any time of day (if you work from a home office, you know 1am is not an unreasonable time to need service). The speed with which an issue is given attention and even the courteousness of the staff can make all the difference in the world when you are experiencing problems. Investigate whether your provider has local support that can visit your location if an issue cannot be resolved over the phone. Perhaps the best way to gauge the tech support is to ask friends who have used the service; if you don’t know anyone personally, check reviews on reputable consumer watch websites like consumer search.
IP Address Options
Your IP address, or the identifying number assigned to your computer as it connects to the internet, can take one of two forms: static or dynamic. Dynamic IP addresses draw from a pool of addresses that gets shared among other dynamic users. It usually changes each time the user logs in, and several users will often be assigned the same number at the same time. This is often the cheaper option of the two and is acceptable for less internet-dependent businesses. Static IP addresses stay constant and are recommended for VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) or for using your computer as a server. It’s more expensive than dynamic hosting and is allegedly less secure because it is easier to track an unchanging address — but it is indispensable when you have more rigorous internet needs. Make sure your ISP provides the IP Address options you need, and allow for changes if your needs change in the future.
High Bandwidth
Of course, no discussion about ISPs would be complete without touching on bandwidth. This number, measured in megabytes per second (MBPS), the big selling point ISPs use in their advertising, but you should be aware of the fine print. Bandwidth comes in two forms: upstream and downstream. Downstream bandwidth is the speed that users can download data from the internet – the bulk of most internet usage. Upstream bandwidth—the speed with which you can upload items—is typically a fraction of the downstream speed, but should be considered if your business requires large files to be uploaded on a frequent basis. Be cautious when comparing advertised bandwidths; usually, the number you see is the maximum speed under the most optimal conditions. The actual speed may be lower, so you should investigate the minimum guaranteed speed.
Included Security
A good ISP will include a security package for you. Security is important for any user, but it’s crucial for a business owner. Features should include firewall protection, which is software or hardware that protects your computers against outside attackers. Both hardware and software firewalls offer specific advantages, but the best protection includes both. Other security features an ISP may offer include virus protection and identity protection software, data backup, and network monitoring. Evaluate the security features offered by various ISPs to determine who offers the most; if you are sold on an ISP that offers less free protection than the competition, they may offer more if you tell them you are considering another company that offers more.
About the Author: Chris Turberville-Tully is a marketing strategist for NewNet, a UK-based internet, hosting and networking solutions company. NewNet services include data centres, dedicated servers, web hosting, business ISP and more. Follow NewNet: http://twitter.com/#!/NewNetISP
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The 5 Dirty Secrets to Writing a Great Review
We’ve all come across awful product or service reviews online. There’s just so many ways that a review can end up being useless – poor writing, no real advice, biased opinions, overly “salesy” content, no accountability, etc. But sometimes, even a well-written review that offers a clear opinion of the product’s usefulness isn’t enough. Product reviews are incredibly important – Bloomberg Businessweek reported in 2009 that 70% of Americans consult product reviews or consumer ratings before buying. Also, in 2011, Cone Communications released a study claiming that 87 percent of consumers confirmed their decision to purchase after reading a favorable review.
It also showed that 80% of consumers have changed their mind based on negative information found online. So, good product reviewing skills can make or break your sales and affect the amount of money you’re getting from your affiliates. Luckily, there are some common-sense ways to take your reviews to the next level.
#1 – Take a Unique Angle
People can get reviews almost anywhere. Sites like Amazon, ConsumerReports, Yelp, ConsumerSearch, Epinions, Trip Advisor, and Customer Lobby all provide reviews of products and services. The quality of these reviews vary wildly, but the sheer amount of them means one thing – you need to stand out. Why should somebody read your review as opposed to 1,000 others? Using an interesting angle can garner some attention. Humor is always good, as long as your review still provides real information that a reader can use. Check out some of Amazon’s funniest user reviews for inspiration. You can also try formatting the review in a unique way, such as creating a fake interview, a top 10 list, or an FAQ.
To put it simply, it’s good to provide more than just product specs and your opinions. Talk specifically about how you used the product in different situations and how it performed. Rather than saying, “The iPad 2′s battery life is indeed an improvement,” it would be more interesting for a visitor to read that “the new iPad’s battery lasted for my whole 9-hour flight from Detroit to Amsterdam.”
#2 – Involve Your Readers
Make sure that you have a comments section at the end of your reviews. Getting a large discussion going can be good for SEO and can increase your accountability. How exactly do you get a discussion going? Well, the first trick is to ask questions. For example, you could end a review of a wireless Internet provider by asking something like, “What would you choose? Is slower speed acceptable if the price is right?” Also, try encouraging your readers to leave comments within the review. For example, you could write, “The modem and router I received took me an hour to set up. (Please comment to let me know if you had the same problem or if I was just doing something wrong.)”
Another way to involve your readers would be to ask for their opinions before you write your review. This way, you can compare what you found to what some of your readers have been saying. For example, you could reach out to UserName2011 through email to ask if he or she has ever used a certain wireless provider. Then, in your review, you could write something like “Reader UserName2011 had similar problems,” or “Although I didn’t like this feature, reader UserName2011 absolutely loved it.” This will help establish a community, which is always helpful for building a site and maintaing credibility.
Getting your readers to post reviews of their own can also help you provide excellent information on a larger scale. For example, you could ask your readers to review a certain wireless provider while mentioning their location. Then you could compile that information into a large article called “wireless Internet by zip code.” This would be extremely helpful to anyone considering using that provider.
#3 – Actually Review the Product
This shouldn’t be a “dirty secret,” but unfortunately, it is. Too many unhelpful or downright fake reviews flood the Internet – remember when Belkin was paying people 65 cents per review to leave positive feedback on their routers being sold at Amazon, Buy.com, and NewEgg regardless of whether or not they actually used them? It’s very easy to hide behind Internet anonymity and claim that you’ve reviewed a product when you haven’t. Of course, you’ll never gain credibility or long-term success this way. (Not to mention, researchers are starting to develop software that spots fake reviews.)
The other problem in this category involves using a product or service but not being an authority on the subject. For example, I could get my hands on the newest Fox oboe model. I could write an eloquent, SEO-friendly review discussing its appearance, dimensions, and materials used for manufacture; however, this wouldn’t change the fact that I know nothing about oboes. A review of this type isn’t really a review, it’s basically just a regurgitation of product information. Don’t attempt to review something you’re completely clueless about – write about things in which you can provide an informed opinion.
#4 – Make Comparisons
Think about some recent purchases you made – you probably had to decide between more than one option. This is the case for everyone, and readers love to see reviews that compare two similar products. For example, which title sounds more interesting – “iPhone 5 Review” or “iPhone 5 vs. Blackberry Bold 9900: Which is right for you?” Other examples include:
- Blogger vs. WordPress
- Southwest Airlines or American Airlines?
- Spotify vs. Grooveshark
[http://www.wikinoticia.com/images/bitelia/bitelia.hipertextual.netdna-cdn.com.files.2011.04.Spotify-vs-GrooveShark1.png]
#5 – Add Your Own Images or Videos
Adding an image of you holding a product or using a service adds instant credibility to your review. It shows the reader that you actually used the product. Even better, a video can allow your readers to specifically see what you’re talking about while you opine. Not to mention, video allows you to add more interesting and possibly humorous details to your review. Photos and videos constitute unique media that’s only available on your site. You can then distribute videos on sites like YouTube and Facebook for promotional purposes. So, don’t just find a stock photo of the iPad 2, create a video showing yourself actually using it. Your readers will be getting a high-quality, insightful and informative review that will keep them coming back to your site.
About the Author: Mitch O’Conner is an online marketer and writer. When he’s not busy testing sites, generating traffic or writing content, he enjoys spending time with his wife and kids, watching TV, playing games or going camping.
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18 Tips to Establish and Grow your Small Business
When establishing a small businesses there are always several key factors that need to be considered so that you are prepared for and understand all of the hurdles that will be placed in front of you. By complying with legislation and managing your time efficiently you will be able to remain on top of everything. This article will consider ways in which you can minimise the input you have to invest and still achieve the results you hope for.
Efficient Time Management
It is far too easy, as a small business owner, to become distracted by the day to day issues that need dealing with, and thus forget the bigger picture. It is important to allocate time for strategic thinking and planning so that you can enable your business to grow around you. By utilising things like outsourced IT you will be able focus your time and energy on the more important strategic elements of your business. Business IT support is just one way in which you can reduce the day to day burden of running your business, but the key is really to plan your time efficiently:
Daily and Weekly Tasks:
- Respond to correspondence. It is important to always respond to customers and business partners promptly.
- Review the effectiveness of current marketing campaigns by analysing response rates.
- Organise staff workloads, job delegation and seek to motivate employees.
- Leave free time to deal with urgent occurrences. Note that if you do not build this time into every day, an urgent occurrence will damage your other services unnecessarily. It is better to have free time than to be short on time.
Monthly Tasks:
- Review performance. You can review your performance by considering, sales, cash flow and results against projections and historical results.
- Review projections for coming months in relation to current performance.
- Consider operations in relation to your overall business strategy. Always remember that your business strategy needs to be a working document which develops and evolves as your business does.
Half-Yearly and Annual Tasks:
- Review employee performance. Assess your employees against tasks you have set them, their overall profit generation and their potential for progression. Having regular performance checks will enable you to keep track of development and performance, as well as creating an incentive for continuous commitment.
- Consider the value of your suppliers. It is sensible to review your suppliers regularly. What was once the best deal may not be any more, so shop around regularly and change suppliers if deliveries are consistently late.
- Prepare annual accounts. The process of information collection should be continuous and the more you do on a short-term basis, the easier the end of year accounts will prove to be.
Complying with Legislation
Legislation compliance is a task which needs to take place throughout the year. Whilst managing this efficiently is important, it must be considered in isolation of other tasks so that there are no mistakes in this costly area of business. There are 8 key elements to consider with regards to legislation and it is important to plan these effectively so that you are not hindered by a sudden rush to comply:
- Pay your taxes on time.
- Comply with Occupational Health and Safety requirements to create a safe working environment.
- Be sure to follow employment legislation accurately and effectively.
- Fulfil directorial responsibilities.
- Follow privacy legislation when sending emails and contacting people.
- Ensure that you are utilising all IT resources legally because unlicensed software use is a crime.
- Obtain the appropriate business license before operation begins.
- Be sure to abide by intellectual property and trademark rules.
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Key SEO Copywriting Tips for Start Ups
Understanding how to utilize the web is a crucial component in the success of a modern start-up. While social media driven businesses are becoming popular, you’re doing yourself a great deal of harm if you neglect the best source of potential customers that exists online: the search engines, and especially Google. SEO (search engine optimization) is the art of gaining high search engine rankings. SEO copywriting is the art of making sure your content not only ranks highly in search engines, but also persuades visitors to your website to buy from you.
Using Keywords on Your Site
Most start-up entrepreneurs have a vague idea that they need to know about “keywords,” but they don’t have a clear understanding of what that means. Here’s a quick breakdown of what you need to know.
Keywords are simply words or phrases that people search for at a search engine like Google. You want to do some keyword research to find out what people are searching for that relates to your product or business. You can use the Google Keyword Tool for an overview, or a paid product like Market Samurai for a more in-depth analysis of keywords.
Each of your web pages should be built around one main keyword phrase and two or three secondary keywords. The main keyword should appear in the Title of the web page, the page URL, the Description, the first headline, and it should make up 1-2% of the body copy. (If you’re using WordPress to build your site, you can make all this a lot easier by installing the All in One SEO Pack plugin).
Crafting Persuasive Web Copy
That’s a basic introduction to keywords – now you also need to understand the psychology of online selling. Just getting people to your site from the search engines isn’t enough – you want them to take some action. That action is called your Most Wanted Response. This could be making a purchase, signing up for an email list, or submitting contact details. It might even be as simple as clicking through to another page on your site. Each page should be written with a Most Wanted Response in mind. With sales pages, the Most Wanted Response is obviously to get an order there and then.
To be persuasive online your site must convey a sense of authority and trust. People are wary of Internet scams, so before anyone will punch their credit card details into your website they need to feel you are “legit.”
Your copy should also emphasize the benefits of what you’re selling rather than just the features. A feature is something the product has – a benefit is something it actually does for the buyer. For instance, if you’re selling a Spanish learning product, you might mention it includes interactive lessons. That’s a feature – but what’s the benefit to the customer? The benefit is that they can take advantage of the fast learning they would have in a class environment, without even having to leave their house.
Every feature corresponds to a benefit – it saves the customer time or money, or it just makes life easier in some way. Emphasize those benefits. Those are what people care about and what will ultimately make them buy.
Pleasing your human visitors should always take priority over making your pages “search engine friendly.” Some people get carried away with the need to get search traffic and they end up creating a lot of low-value content which has no real use to human visitors.
Don’t be one of those people. Stick to creating quality web pages and you’ll reap the benefits in the long run.
About the Author: Tom McSherry is a professional SEO copywriter and the founder of Premium Online Writing. His mission is to provide web businesses with a go-to shop for high quality written marketing materials and information product creation.
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How to Use Your Website’s Data to Expand Your Online Business
As web developers, we tend to obsess over other people’s website data, while tragically forgetting to leverage our own. Think about it. How much would you pay for a peek at your top competitors’ Google Analytics reports? But how much have you really paid attention to your own? With good search data on your site, you can monitor and optimize countless metrics that can bring your site to more SERPs, and more viewers. But many web developers fear that relying on Google Analytics can cause significant problems. So what programs are available that help you get the website data you need? And, more importantly, how can you use this data to launch an effective and long-lasting SEO campaign?
What Data Should You Be Tracking?
While the data you decide to track will depend largely on the goals of your site, most webmasters have a few key ways in which they would like to improve their overall site. In general, you probably want visitors to:
- Spend more time on your website
- Return to your site more often
- Convert on more affiliate products or offers
- Let other people know you exist
Additionally, you want to make sure that your site is properly optimized from a keyword, code, and content standpoint.
The most important data you should be tracking is keyword data. In a nutshell, you want to see what keywords people are using to reach every page of your site. The goal is to find low-hanging fruit that you might not have meant to target in your original keyword campaign. For example, you run a wireless Internet service affiliate site and notice that one of your pages (which you originally optimized for the phrase AT&T 4G Internet review) is getting a significant amount of traffic from people searching for comparison phrases like AT&T vs. T Mobile and AT&T vs. CLEAR Wireless. The page users are coming to, however, are not converting well and are losing out on traffic to a competitor.
You can use this keyword data to target a new keyword phrase, perhaps on a fresh page of content. You might choose to create a page targeting the phrase AT&T 4G Internet vs. CLEAR, for example. By doing so, you should begin to see a small boost in traffic over time, assuming the keyword phrase search data remains consistent.
Bounce rate is another vital piece of data that helps you improve and expand your online business. Let’s assume that your website data shows that some pages keep visitors on the page for around two minutes, while some see visitors leave in about 30 seconds. Worse, you have a couple of pages where visitors seem to leave within only a few seconds. What’s going on with those pages? We call this data “bounce rate.” Most data programs not only give you an idea of how long visitors stay on your pages, but where they go next.
To use bounce rate data to expand your online business, you have to keep two things in mind, which the good people at searchengineland.com point out in the article Two Simple Rules For Fixing High Bounce Rate Pages. First, consider what people might be looking for on your pages with high bounce rates. Are you really offering the information they expected based on their original search? For example, if visitors searched “dog food,” they’re probably looking for information on what to feed their dogs. Now, if your page is full of recipes on how to use dogs as food (gross…), you might be seeing a high bounce rate because visitors see that your page is not exactly relevant to their searches. You might need to rewrite the page, or create a new page that targets the keyword phrase more relevantly.
You can also examine how people are viewing your page “above the fold” (or before they scroll down) by taking a screenshot of the page and using a tool like Attention Wizard to create a heatmap. Check out the example heatmap we created below using Attention Wizard.
Ideally, you want the hot spots to be on conversion opportunities. You can see in the image that, in general, that does happen. But you also want to check to see if the chronological order of what visitors view follows a conversion path, darting to each ad, submission form, and company logo. But our example also shows that the page is missing a few conversion opportunities, primarily in numbers 6,8,9, and 11. Visitors expect something to be in those locations, but we’re not offering it. If your heatmap seems sporadic, your website might be confusing and frustrating visitors, which can cause high bounce rates.
What Software Can You Use to Track Website Data?
Now, Google Analytics is a fantastic tool. But it often takes a couple of days for data to show up. Worse, some webmasters fear the Google terms and conditions – which seem to imply that any evidence of link campaigning could get you banned/get your AdSense removed. Let’s not forget that Google has also recently announced that Analytics will no longer report search queries from organic search to “protect user privacy.” This means that your keyword data from Analytics will be pretty sparse from now on.
Many webmasters, as a result, choose to use other software to safely track website data. Get Clicky and Woopra are among the most popular.
Get Clicky offers a powerful website data tracking tool, which allows you to check all of the data available on Analytics. Two areas you should pay close attention to are “Traffic Sources” and “Locale.” Traffic Sources helps you identify which countries your visitors search from. If you’re getting a significant amount of traffic from France, you might consider offering a french language version of your website, or at least try writing some content that targets French users in some way.
Traffic Sources is also a great piece of data that gives you some insight into how your various campaigns are working. This section reveals whether you’re getting significant traffic from advertising, or whether most of your traffic comes from links or organic search. This data can help you determine whether you need to bump up your link building campaign, or whether your advertising is not providing a good ROI.
Woopra is a very clean looking program, and helps you check out some very specific pieces of website data in real time. One great feature is “Visitor Engagament,” which tells you what people are doing on your site (reading, writing, or idle). Of course, you can also check other data, like which browsers your visitors use on your site more often, what language they speak, what operating system they’re using – almost everything.
If you’re struggling with conversions, or watching hopelessly as people go to your competition, you might be surprised at just how easy of a fix most problems can be using your own website data. Before you launch a massive link building campaign that could cost thousands of dollars, try looking at your own website data to find problems on your site. If you would like to expand your online business, using your website’s data should be your first step.
About the Author: Mitch O’Conner is an online marketer and writer. When he’s not busy testing sites, generating traffic or writing content, he enjoys spending time with his wife and kids, watching TV, playing games or going camping.
Photo Credit: Eric Fischer
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Succeeding with Virtual Business Today
Big changes are afoot in how America works right now. The financial threats of lower-priced rivals from overseas, the improved effectiveness of a virtual business model and a fresh American desire for better quality of life have caused the radical work shift. Virtual business, remote work, telework, distributed work, virtual staff like executive assistants, virtual teams– call them what you wish– are now part of the corporate vocabulary.
Virtual Work – Changing the Landscape
I spoke with Alan Blume, author of Your Virtual Success: Finding Profitability in an Online World. Alan’s opinion is t that virtual work is changing the very heart of cities and urban centers, how we live and aggregate as people. As more business is performed from remote locations, cities are quickly becoming cultural centers where you find more entertainment than business. We just don’t need to be “at the office” like we used to. Look no further than the commercial office space real estate debacle in recent years and you’ll get the point. Companies who don’t adjust won’t be able to attract the best employees or survive economically, and may soon end up like the newspaper industry. Alan brings out more points and subtleties in his video interview.
Small Business in the Virtual World
If you run a virtual business like I do, or are thinking about one, Your Virtual Success is a resource you should pick up. It provides an easy to read, yet content-filled set of actions for you to take to…
- Transform to a virtual business from your day job
- Launch a virtual business quickly
- Establish niche branding and image
- Sell and market your business virtually
- Qualify and contract virtual talent– from anywhere!
- Test and expand your business
The author Alan Blume “eats his own dog food” as he told me once, in that all the recipes in this book he uses for his own organization. I was most fascinated by some of the non-traditional sources to find freelance talent; for example, Craig’s List. I thought Craig’s List was a refuge for con artists, crooks and the occasional murderer, and no doubt those folks are out hunting for the unprepared. There’s a lot of talent on Craig’s List too, which I found out. I found my graphic designer for this business’ logo and discovered my web designer via carefully specified postings on Craig’s List. Lots of other freelance sites are out there as well such as Odesk and Elance. There are always diamonds amongst the bad seed that exists online and the instructions in the staffing chapter of how to divide the good from the bad are by themselves worth reading this book.
Tools of the Virtual Trade
There are many tools in this work for small business owners to think about, whether it’s the use of online video that you can now advertise your business much more cost effectively than ever before, or ways to test new products and services and adapt to the feedback you receive on the fly, reworking as you go. So many things exist today for you to benefit from in order to compete with larger companies and lower-priced rivals, and you may soon be forced to.
When you read a book like this, you begin thinking about work in a different way. The author tells his Tale of Two Nephews and lets the reader decide which version of success he’d like to have; the overworked, overstressed 9 to 7er or the guy working his bathrobe. When I read how the author runs his own company I was envious, because I’m not there yet, but I am on my way. This book has many of the same qualities as the Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris, without the concentration on world travel and focused a little more on developing your own virtual enterprise from a sensible standpoint.
You can get through this book in one sitting, but you should circle back with a highlighter or ball point pen to some of the key sections and references Alan gives. Bookmark the appendix Rolling Pipeline Report, Prospect Scorecard and Sample Order Confirmations as documents that can form a basis for tracking and running your virtual business.
About the Author: Is your business giving you the profits and passion you want? You can use virtual technologies to supercharge your results in aVirtual Mastermind Group forming now and learn more about the Mastermind Process in this FREE Video. Karl Walinskas is the CEO of Smart Company Growth, a business development firm that helps small to mid-size professional service firms build competitive advantage in an online world of sameness. He is author of numerous articles and the Smart Blog on leadership, business communication, sales & service, public speaking and virtual business, and Getting Connected Through Exceptional Leadership, available in the SmartShop.
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Get a Business Black Belt in 5 Simple Steps
Many small businesses fail these days without the process or discipline to be successful. When all the excuse-making is said and done, do you have the will and the skill to survive and thrive?
A few weeks ago I watched the culmination of 4 years worth of work that started at the ripe old age of six. Huh? As impossible as it seems, 4th graders can set a goal, concentrate on it (kind of), and steadily realize it one step at a time. I’m talking about my son Jack, who just attained a black belt in Karate. This was a big deal to all the kids and adults in his class, reminding me of accomplishing my Eagle Scout as a teenager, and this dad was beaming!
These guys boggled the mind, and on the tough 6 hour day of final testing and ultimate celebration, it was remarkable to see not only Jack but everyone in the class crackle with an accuracy you wouldn’t think conceivable.
So how’s this pertain you as a business owner? Here are 5 Steps in Black Belt Mastery for your organization.
Increasing, Controllable Objectives
Do you know how many colored belts you need to get through in order to get a black belt? 13 of them! Somewhere one of Gary Larson’s talking animals is saying “What the?!”
There is white, white & yellow, yellow, orange, green, blue, purple, purple & yellow, brown, brown & yellow, red, red & black (danbo), and finally, black belt.
Each one of these is a little step along the way, a tiny goal that makes the final goal more attainable. It takes a few years, and the Masters of Karate understand that.
Your business needs big, hairy, audacious goals to be certain. It gives you the brass ring to pursue. But break that down into process steps that demonstrate small successes, advancements toward the main goal.
I help companies get noticed using web video promotion. I put sound, entertaining and informative video interviews together and work to get clients on a timetable of video releases. We may shoot all the videos together for convenience, but the procedure is staged with small, press-release style videos that are easy to develop and publish.
Develop a Procedure and Stick To It
Processes are like noses in business. Everybody has one. Guess what? I don’t have to have the strongest sense of smell in the world to know when something stinks, I just need to use the nose I have.
So it is with processes. Jack’s black belt training requires a philosophy, knowledge of seemingly irrelevant things, and little memorized routines called forms that the students use to establish physical eye to hand coordination and control. Does Jack’s school use the greatest process to train Karate? Who knows and who cares! They use and follow a process and stick to it.
In the video example above, content creation is a procedure. The questions and answer format is a simple, fill-in-the-blanks questionnaire for creating the compelling content that the executive needs to connect with his target market.
I don’t care if it’s the best technique in the world and neither do the companies who hire me. I step into a vacuum void of leads, and my techniques are better than the ones that the marketing team doesn’t have.
Keep At It!
Many a night my son got back from Karate at 9 pm, and then we fought our way (literally) through his homework until 10:30 or so. Ever try to keep a 9 or 10 year old focused on academics at 10:00 at night?
The goal progression and training was so focused and disciplined, it required numerous hours to accomplish mastery at each of the belt levels I described. Credit the little guy, he put in the time with a little arm twisting.
In Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, I learned it takes 10,000 hours to attain mastery in any discipline, be it athletics or computer programming. True success outliers are those that either by luck or by plan find a way to get those 10,000 hours under their belts.
What about you? What does your business stake it’s claim on being the best at? Have you put in your time? Can you? You must practice your business guitar until your fingers bleed, my friend. The sales guys aren’t going to get good at making calls until they are making 125 a week or more, each and every week, over and over again. Lessons from a 10 year old.
Find Cheerleaders
Whenever the Karate students test for their next belt, whether it’s a brown belt or a 4th degree black belt, the Dojo is filled with rabid fans, both other students, parents and friends. It gets loud, with board breaking being the culmination of the demonstration. The students punch and kick boards to raucous applause, and you can feel the energy encouraging the youngsters who may miss on the first few tries. Actually, I’ve seen 6 years olds kick a board until his foot was throbbing in pain until he broke it, limping off the mat to a standing O.
In your small business, you may do all the work but don’t go it alone. If your spouse is not on board and wants you to go get a real job, it is incredibly hard to succeed in spite of that lack of support. But, if he or she is cheering you on every time you fail, you ‘ll find a way to run your way to the finish line too, even while limping across with a sweaty smile on your face.
Get Back on the Horse
How many of Jack’s class failed doing their forms or breaking boards or sparring? All of them, many times over. Gentle correction from the professor, try again. As part of Jack’s final black belt testing, he had to come up with a staged self-defense skit with other kids his size. He and his partner tried about a dozen things in the weeks prior to the big day, each time failing, adapting, getting creative, failing again, and changing tact again until finally a success!
I market my own company with this blog and my website mostly. I fail regularly to get a conversion, or to get the copy right, or to finish the squeeze page the way I wanted. I post articles that I think are home runs and less than a dozen people read or re-tweet them. I just have this belief that when all is said and done I will run out of ways to fail and find just the right mix to get the results I’m looking for. No I’m not going to mention Thomas Edison, damn! Just did.
So if you’ve gotten this far you’ll understand that the Business Black Belt is not the Karate Black Belt or the Six Sigma Black Belt. It’s not certified by a governing body. It’s you as a business owner demonstrating the resolve, determination and self-control to adhere to the steps in this post to burst through your boards and achieve ultimate success.
About the Author: Everyone in the dojo notices a blackbelt. Are customers, partners and employers noticing you? SmartVu video interviews get you on the map! Karl Walinskas owns and operates Smart Company Growth, a business growth firm that helps white collar professionals. Stop in to check out the Smart blog or get special informational goodies for aggressive entrepreneurs and business owners looking to break out.
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5 Tweaks for Small Business Web Content
Google has once again tweaked its search engine functionality to put renewed stress on quality sites – and one of the criteria for quality is content that has been recently posted. If you’re a small business you aren’t going to out-design larger competitors but you can make your site more compelling with a few personalized steps. You can also bring more immediacy to your product lineup by changing the focus of your front page or your blog section on a regular basis.
1. Make your words count
By now every business professional understands that people read web pages differently than they read printed documents. It’s more accurate to say that the typical web surfer scans rather than reads. That’s why a few sentences or a brief paragraph accompanied by an image of some sort is far more effective than a page of detailed information. Brief statements that cause a site visitor to click over to a more detailed description or illustration are proven tools on a website; but you want your visitors to seek out that sort of detail rather than have no other visual introduction to your site.
2. Make your blog a promotional tool
This is not as easy as it sounds, but the idea is to have your blogger write occasionally about actual cases of product usage where the product was purchased through your site and perhaps the client received some support on putting that product to use. A few elements have to come together here: you need either someone in-house that can write or a blogger that is familiar with your market niche.
3. Put video to work
You can provide video shots of a product on display or in use. A video insert can also feature a satisfied customer, if you have local sales where you can tape customers who are a car ride away. It shouldn’t take your marketing person long to learn how to hold a camera steady and how to edit a piece so that conveys the message you want. You can use video for a knowledgeable presentation on a product as well from you or one of your employees, but stay away from the “talking head” shot. Your presenter should be working with a product or with a graphic aid of some sort.
4. Customer testimonials never hurt
Quotes from a customer who has had a positive experience are even better if they are accompanied by a visual of some sort – photo or video – illustrating your product as it has been installed or put to use. If your customer is a few states away, find one that is supportive and ask for a photo or two. Many people can take decent snapshots today with their phones.
5. Focus on quality and experience
If your business has been open for a while, you can talk about your successful growth and steady expansion of your customer base. If it’s a new business, provide some evidence of related experience so that potential customers understand your depth of knowledge in your particular commercial field.
About the author: Bob Hartzell has been writing for five years about education, business and other life essentials on a variety of websites. Much of his recent work has been about the online master’s degree and its value in career enhancement, for those who are not yet working for themselves. He lives in Maine where many a small business operates out of a converted barn or farmhouse.
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Online Marketing for Small Businesses – a Social Media Primer
Small businesses that use online marketing have a number of tools at their disposal, including blogs, search engine optimization, review websites and other inbound marketing techniques. However, what may end up being the Internet’s most important contribution to advertising and brand awareness is social media networking platforms. Sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and even Yelp! are wonderful devices that make reaching out to customers simple and, most importantly, cheap.
Unfortunately, not every small business owner is internet-savvy enough to instantly capture a broad and deep customer base. This can make engaging with users on these services intimidating. With a little bit of practice and some clear guidelines, such efforts can actually be quite successful. Here are some of the most important lessons for using these social platforms to garner leads and additional business.
Establish a Policy
No two companies use social media in exactly the same way. For instance, some may choose to simply make Facebook posts and tweets messaging tools that inform customers about the latest promotions and discounts that an organization is running. Others may choose to use these services to actually contact customers and offer them deals and savings. Either way, be sure to set up some guidelines that will keep an organization’s tone consistent throughout a campaign.
Designate Users
In keeping with a consistent feel, it is a good idea to establish which employees will actually generate content for a social media website. The importance of these services is making it so that some organizations choose to hire full-time networkers to maintain their various profiles. However, this may not be necessary, depending on a business’ intent. Either way, choose an employee who is somewhat tech-savvy, grammatically sound and can maintain a level of professionalism that won’t sully a company’s good name.
Coordinate With Other Efforts
The odds are good that a business using social networking websites will have at least some other efforts ongoing in the online world. If this is the case, coordinate social media messages and profiles with them. Blogs and Facebook posts can link to one another, while promotions being held should be advertised as much as possible on these platforms. Even something as simple as the images and fonts used in traditional advertising should match those used on Twitter feeds and blogs.
About the Author: Guest Post by Myron Corp. Located in Maywood, New Jersey, Myron is a global provider of imprinted promotional products and works closely with businesses to integrate these products into their marketing mix. Myron manufactures quality items such as promotional calendars, personalized pens and other giveaways and corporate customized gifts designed to build brand awareness and customer loyalty.
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Remember Visual Hierarchy in your Advertising
Whether you are creating bill board, an exhibition stand or leaflet you need to pay attention to how you will direct people around your publication. The concept of visual hierarchy is one of the first things that graphic designers learn and it allows you to emphasise important elements in your publications with ease.
In fact I’m using it right now and you’ve probably used it today as well. Visual hierarchy is useful when it comes to creating attractive, easy to read adverts, ensuring that potential customers easily absorb your message.
Contrast
This will come up again and again in this post, but anything that contrasts from the rest of a piece will stand out and be seen as important. For example if you pattern of blue dots with one red dot then the red dot will immediately be noticed.
Size
It is fairly obvious that larger elements tend to be ‘heavier’ than smaller elements. So the more important the image is the larger it should be in comparison to other images. So you would usually want to make the most important part of an image the largest. Though there are exceptions to this rule. For example a single small but contrasting element surrounded by larger elements, will stand out creating a vulnerable impression.
Position
In Western cultures we tend to scan pieces from the top left to the bottom right in an ‘E’ pattern. Having said that the first place we tend to look at is the centre. So a distinctive central image will attract the most ‘weight’ and after that whatever is in the top left corner. Think of a billboard as opposed to this article. Probably the first thing you notice when you look at a billboard is near the centre. In contrast when you look at this article the first thing you notice is the title. This is because there is nothing distinctive in the centre, just a block of text.
Position has another crucial role. If you arrange everything in an organised pattern then anything that breaks that pattern will stand out. (Type dare to be different into Google Images to get an idea of what I’m talking about).
Colour
For some reason different colours tend carry different weights, with red and black seeming to be the ‘heaviest’ with green and yellow being the ‘lightest’. You will see over and over again red being used to distinguish an important item, think of fire extinguishers and alarms, there is a reason why they tend to painted red.
Whitespace
Whitespace, though it can be blackspace, or green whatever your background colour is really, helps to organise the information and prevent it appearing overwhelming. If you have ever tried to scan a long text message for details you will know how annoying a stream of text is. By putting spaces between elements then it allows you to group them.
Grouping
By grouping elements together you can show that they are related. For example without reading this paragraph you can still tell all the words are related because they are closer to each other than they are to the words in other paragraphs. In addition the whitespace between the paragraphs helps to establish them as separate groups. You can also establish relationships by repeating elements, so for example the sub headings in this article are seen as a group because they bolder than the rest of the text.
I hope this article has helped give you a basic idea of the principle behind visual hierarchy and how they can help make you publications easier to read and more informative. There is a wealth of information out there which can help you understand
About the author: Daniel Frank regularly blogs about marketing and design is currently writing on behalf of Nimlok Exhibition Stands.
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Prevent and Protect Against Business Lawsuits
Just because you have a healthy fear of the legal system (namely the fact that cases could go either way, even if you’re sure you have an iron-clad defense) it doesn’t mean you can indulge in the luxury of avoiding legal matters. Not only must your business operate within certain legal parameters, but it also behooves you to be aware of the many ways in which your business could potentially come under attack from lawsuits. In short, you need to do everything in your power to prevent legal action and protect yourself against it, should it arise. So here are just a few steps you may want to take in order to ensure that the law is on your side.
Contacting an Attorney
The first thing you should do is contract the services of an attorney. You might not be able to afford to keep a law firm on retainer, but you will need a few legal services (and some advice) when you start your business, and possibly down the road. Since you probably don’t have a background in law, you should start by asking for information about the types of lawsuits you might encounter. Your best bet to avoid lawsuits is to see where they could come from and then take measures to prevent them. And on this score, an attorney can be very useful.
Look for Specialization
Lawyers that specialize in business contracts can help you to create legal documents that will serve to protect you from all kinds of potential issues. For example, you may deal with sensitive information or proprietary software, which means you’ll need employees to sign contracts with non-disclosure agreements. Or you may want to pen a user agreement and a return policy for your online store. And if you work with corporate clients you’ll almost certainly need contracts for services that specify everything from delivery dates to payments for milestones. The right law firm will help you to create the basic legal documents by which your business operates, and they will represent you in disputes (often for free if they want to avoid malpractice suits themselves).
The Best Defense
But there’s a lot you can do on your own to prevent lawsuits, as well. You can start by putting yourself in the shoes of others. Imagine how you might feel if you received a faulty product that led to accident or injury; you’d probably want reparations (or at least your out-of-pocket medical costs covered). Would you be willing to sue to get these funds? Some people would. Or what if you worked hard only to have your boss demand you work through lunch (frequently, and more importantly, illegally)? What if your business partner was in breach of contract, to your detriment? Or what if a vendor you relied on failed to deliver on time, costing you money?
By thinking through issues like these and doing your best to treat your customers, clients, partners, lenders, employees, and anyone else associated with your business fairly, you may be able to stave off the lawsuits that other companies face due to their callous disregard for others. While a smile and a handshake won’t serve you well in a courtroom setting, sometimes common courtesy, customer service, and simply treating others as you would like to be treated is enough to keep them from filing suit.
About the Author: Evan Fischer is a writer for http://www.Maryland-Injury-Lawyer.com/ , a law firm that protects the livelihood of clients who have suffered from an injury due to another person’s negligence.
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LinkedIn Publicity: How Online Press Release Distribution Can Help You with Your LinkedIn Marketing Efforts
Online press release distribution has not lost its power to create buzz and brand awareness. In fact, in speaking with many business professionals who have used our distribution partner’s press release services, we’ve been told:
- Their press releases were picked up by 40+ online sites and media news stations.
- Their press release placement brought additional credibility to the launch of their new books, products and services.
- They started to dominate the search engines – and “own” their keywords as search engines love optimized press releases
- They doubled and tripled their website traffic
- Multiple reporters and media professionals contacted them for additional interviews and media opportunities that give them more exposure.
- Their website now ranks higher on Google – because online press release distribution is a powerful link building too.
Here’s an additional benefit of online press release distribution that no one else is talking about…Online press release distribution will help you with your overall LinkedIn marketing efforts.
6 Ways Online Press Release Distribution Can Help You With Your LinkedIn Marketing Efforts
1) The press release generated publicity can provide you with instant credibility with your LinkedIn profile visitors.
For example my client Sara LaForest’s headline reads like this: “Top Management Consultant Featured in Business Week, Fast Company & WomenEntrepreneur.com – Connect and Find Out Why”. This shows readers immediately why they should trust her and why they should trust what she has to say.
Here are some of the other ways you can highlight your publicity on your LinkedIn profile:
- Create a quoted media positions
- Showcase your media mentions within your summary
- Add the publications section to your LinkedIn profile
- Create a media kit on your LinkedIn profile using Box.net
2) Showcasing your press release generated publicity will prove to journalists that you are media worthy.
On LinkedIn you should be looking to connect with journalists, editors, online radio show hosts and other media professionals. Now for those media professionals to accept your invitation, you have to prove you are credible and newsworthy. When your press release is published by a top publication, you have completed half the battle because you have given yourself expert status. Now, you just have to build a relationship with the media professionals you connect with and show them that your information is relevant to their audience.
3) Use press releases to promote your LinkedIn group and community.
We recently created and distributed a press release that promoted Skip Weisman’s Workplace Communication Strategies group – and it was published on CNBC.com. This helped him:
- Increase his LinkedIn group membership by making more people aware of his group.
- Give him a reason to re-announce his group again to his email list as well as any LinkedIn connection that were not already members of his group. Any time you have a success, you should be letting your connections know.
- Give new connections a reason to join his LinkedIn group when we sent out group invites.
4) Your press release placements can position you as a thought leader in your LinkedIn group – and those other groups you belong to.
I like to create discussions around a topic and link the discussion to a press release or article I’ve written that gives more information on the topic and is featured on a top website. This automatically gives me a third party endorsement which offers more credibility than if the information was just placed on my own website or blog.
5) Use your press release placement as a springboard for discussions.
For example, I distributed a press release titled “More Journalist on LinkedIn Than Any Other Social Network, Study Shows”. I then created this discussion within LinkedIn group: “How are you using LinkedIn to get you more publicity?
In the LinkedIn discussion summary I put “In the press release below, I reveal that 82% of journalist are on LinkedIn and that is more than any other social network. So now I am asking you, how are using LinkedIn to build and maintain relationships with media professionals to get you more publicity?”
I then linked the discussion to my press release on Yahoo News.
This helped me:
- Get more exposure for my press release
- Create a discussion among publicity professionals as they provided their insights. I then responded to their feedback with other ideas and explained to them how I can help them with their LinkedIn publicity efforts
- Start a discussion among small business owners and other business professionals who wanted to learn how to get more publicity by using LinkedIn
6) Getting published or featured all over the Web on top websites and blogs will give you access to more people who will want to connect with you on LinkedIn.
You will have people coming to you seeking your advice. They will see your press release and then look you up on LinkedIn wanting to connect with you. For example, as I was writing this article, I received an invitation to connect that said, “Hi Kristina, I just read your tips in Canadian Advisor’s Edge Magazine – I’d like to connect with you and learn more.”
Your Next Steps
Now that I have shown you how online press release distribution can help you with your LinkedIn marketing efforts, it’s time you take action and start writing your press releases. If you need help, check our my Instant Press Release Templates at http://www.40InstantPressReleaseTemplates.com
About the Author: LinkedIn marketing expert Kristina Jaramillo helps small businesses and organizations get more publicity, prospects and profits using effective LinkedIn. Now, at http://www.HowtoGetMorePublicitywithLinkedIn.com, you can gain full access to her FREE 14-Day LinkedIn Publicity E-course that shows you how to create an expert LinkedIn profile the media will love, how to build relationships with the media plus sneaky ways to get more PR using LinkedIn.
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Crowdfunding Your Startup [INFOGRAPHIC]
In a down economy, it’s difficult for entrepreneurs to access the capital needed to build their venture from the ground up. Luckily, projects can now be funded by a powerful combination of the social Internet and generous networks of friends, colleagues, and communities. This model is called “crowdfunding” and is sweeping the startup nation by storm. It seem s to be an entrepreneurs dream,. bit are there problems in the way?
Check out the below infographic on how to navigate the new crowdfunding landscape (click image for larger view).
Click for Larger View
infographic source: drawing a crowd
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Internet Video Formats: Which is best for your Video Marketing?
OK, so you’ve decided that getting some web video on your site and social media profiles is a great idea to make you more eye-catching to customers and put your SEO (search engine optimization) on HGH. You understand that video marketing is a fundamental part of your overall search engine marketing and social media strategy. Bully for you! Now on to the tech stuff. Video formats can be overwhelming and vary depending on the equipment the video was shot with, the kind of computer you use, and the final destination where you want to host and serve up your on-demand video as part of your video marketing plan.
So which is best for you?
Lorraine Grula offers these tips from her years of experience as a top shelf video photographer and producer in ReelSEO.
Web Video Guidelines
Depending on whether you are doing research to get started with web video or if you are making use of existing equipment and software, you may be limited to formats as follows:
- Raw Video Format — As determined by your camera or, currently, your recording software. For instance, the software I record SmartVu Video Interviews with processes raw video optimally when stored as Windows Movie (. wmv). I have a PC based application. Your camera or software may have a different standard, particularly if you are using a MAC.
- Editing Basics — Your editing software may also have a limitation on formats of video it will accept and types that it works the best with. My videos are substance related, not glitz and glamour, so I use programs like Corel Video Studio and Windows Live Movie Maker. Most video editors will accept almost all the standard raw video formats, but you’ll want to confirm.
- Video Platform– What type video format works best with your online video platform that will work as your host? Will you host it on your site? Take into account Adobe Flash for speed reasons of loading without buffering. YouTube? They convert your incoming video to Flash (.flv) for display. If you’re using a 3rd party, ask about their preferred video format.
Obviously if you have a mismatch in your video camera output and your editor, for example, you’re up a creek without a paddle and will need to convert your raw video to be accepted by the editor. Avoid this, as every conversion results in quality loss for the video. Limit too many conversions.
High Quality or File Size?
Look, with internet video marketing, you are looking at a tradeoff between two things when recording, editing and finishing videos: resolution and file size. Lorraine talks about compatibility too in the ReelSEO piece, and we talked about that already. The greater the quality, the larger the file size (usually), and that means the longer the buffer when loading the video on your player upon demand (particularly if uploaded straight from your site server). If you want super-clear quality, the first thing you need is a work-horse computer loaded up with RAM and an uber-fast processor. I am a PC guy and I had to get an I-7 Dell to accommodate recording Hi-Def video. My old PC (5 years old) could not manage the large files without Japanese Monster Movie style mis-tracking between voice and image and I was forced to record at lower resolutions until upgrading.
The Main Video Formats for Web Video
If you ‘re trying to find the best of both worlds and your hardware can handle the recording and editing, see this brief (did I say brief?) summary of web video formats you’ll be utilizing:
Windows Media Video (. wmv)
This is the basic PC video file format that comes with Windows set up for Windows Media Player. It is well-known, delivers acceptable quality and a fairly small file size. Want higher quality? Record or finish-edit at a higher resolution and the file size increases accordingly. The advantage of .wmv is that it’s standard with all Windows PCs and, if shot in low enough resolution, can actually be small enough to share via email. I use this format for SmartVu Video Interviews and then stream them on Youtube, and they convert without much issue with good finish quality.
Audio-Video Interlaced (. avi)
This is the original video format from Microsoft and has a tendency to create very large files unsuitable for sharing, but of good quality for master files. For sharing, most videographers finish-edit the file in another format to lower file size. According to Grula there is some inconsistency with the codecs (tech video term here) depending on the recording device, making. avi not a great choice for small business video and novice producers.
Motion Picture Experts Group MPEG-4 (. mp4)
Increasing numbers of video producers online are loving .mp4 as the format of choice. It has the H-264 compression codec which is considered top drawer, and is quickly becoming the basic output of camcorders and video cameras. For online sharing the .mp4 format is moving toward the universal preference and in fact is recommended by Youtube, the big fish in the platform market.
Apple Quick Time (. mov)
This format has been around a while and is standard from Apple Quick Time, but is not restricted to Macs. File sizes are big and quality is high. If super-tight quality is your concern, this may be your format.
Flash Video (. flv)
This is the most popular file format on the web today, usable in the Adobe Flash Player which is standard on 99 % of all computers. Video sharing websites like Youtube, Vimeo, etc. take your existing videos and convert to flash for streaming to watchers of the site. File sizes are small, it streams fast, and the flash player can start playing the videos while they are still loading which is fantastic for longer videos (5 min or more). If you host video on your own server, converting to. flv is almost a requirement for user experience. I have used the Riva converter to convert some. wmv files to flash and noticed quality degradation in exchange for the file size and speed issue; nevertheless, Youtube conversions seem to be very clear.
Tips
Here is my recommendation to small business owners and entrepreneurs looking to get into video marketing on their websites and social media profiles.
Record raw footage in the best possible format for your device. If that is .mp4, you’re one step ahead of the game.
When editing, finish the video in. mp4. Test to see if your quality is acceptable with no degradation. MPEG-4 is much simpler to upload and move around. If you see a quality reduction, save finish edits to the same file format as your raw footage.
Upload your videos to a video sharing platform. I recommend Youtube. It is the most popular, gets the most traffic by far, and let’s face it. Google now owns Youtube. If you’re streaming video on your site from Youtube or another site, which one do you think will get the greatest SEO results and page 1 positioning? Youtube will convert to either .mp4 or .flv and do a fine job with it, taking that off your plate.
Now you just need to learn how to use Youtube without providing 100 options for people to leave your video and go view something else. I’ll tell you more on that in a later article.
About the Author: Want better results from Video Marketing? Smart Company Growth helps business SEO by Video Interview Marketing to generate site traffic and build trust with prospects to spike inbound leads. President Karl Walinskas works with companies on Growth Strategy and LinkedIn Marketing for brand building, and has authored Getting Connected Through Exceptional Leadership and been published in AOL, SiteProNews, Selling Power and a million more.
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Open Office Spaces: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Depending upon the location of your lookout perch on the nation’s workforce tree, you may or may not be aware of a rapidly growing trend in workspace design—the trend toward open office spaces. Popularized by an explosion in the European market, open offices are now catching on in the States, even though the precise definition of “open” is itself still very much open to interpretation. In some settings, the traditional “four walls and a door” office is being replaced by various forms of less compartmentalized partitioning where employees are still somewhat separate while working more closely together.
In the more extreme cases, every kind of wall is undergoing the same fate as the Berlin Wall—tumbling down completely—and the result is an environment where employees sit together with no barriers between them in a large central workspace. The common denominator here is the evolution from an isolated and insulated atmosphere to a more unlocked, uncovered, and unplugged one. But is this trend a good thing? This is the subject of a very spirited and ongoing debate.
Interestingly, both the proponents and detractors of open space offices tend to relate their arguments to a very similar, and nearly identical, set of metrics. Supporters often cite the positive effect of open space on employee morale, workforce productivity, environmental concerns, and individual worker performance. But detractors will point out how openness impacts these same criteria—only in a negative way. Let’s take a closer look at the pros and cons and maybe we can learn something:
Employee Morale
- Why open space is good: Even animals in the zoo don’t like being cooped up in cages, right? This is why you see many of them roaming around modern zoos in open-looking areas that somewhat resemble their natural habitats. Well, common sense tells us that if it works for animals it should work just as well for people. Open offices afford the ideal conditions for humans to roam around and in the process make friends, collaborate with co-workers, communicate more, and achieve a true sense of community within the office space. All these things are bound to add up to higher employee morale.
- Why open space is bad: Morale is great when you are sitting face to face on a daily basis with someone you like. But what if that person happens to be someone you dislike? And communication can be great—but some kinds are much better than others. Unfortunately open spacing gives us the bad along with the good. Being forced to listen to every co-worker’s phone calls and conversations, not to mention bad-mouthing and gossip, can kill morale instead of enhancing it. And another side effect of openness can be a higher risk of personal property theft. What could be more demoralizing than that?
Productivity/Bottom-line Profits
- Why open space is good: Studies have shown that open space offices are very cost-effective, saving businesses upwards of 20% in overhead costs. More people can be fit into workspaces and if the right kind of furniture is chosen, planners can maximize their usable space. Also, open spaces tend to more naturally accommodate modern work practices such as teleworking and office-sharing.
- Why open space is bad: A study by Australian scientists published in the Asia-Pacific Journal of Health Management concludes that open space offices are bad for employee health. The research found that in 90% of cases studied, “the outcome of working in an open-plan office was seen as negative, with open-plan offices causing high levels of stress, conflict, high blood pressure, and a high staff turnover.” Germs are also more easily transmitted, leading to more employee sickness and a loss of production. Another negative risk to the company’s bottom line is the potential for theft of company secrets. In an open office space, the odds of someone seeing or hearing confidential or business-sensitive information increases considerably. And a leakage of proprietary information can not only destroy profits but can destroy entire companies too.
Workplace Environment
- Why open space is good: For many of the same reasons that consolidation into an open space plan yields corporate cost savings, it can also result in a greener workplace. Facilities with open offices are generally more eco-friendly due to greater efficiencies in heating and cooling.
- Why open space is bad: One type of pollution that usually rises in an open setting instead of falling is noise. There is more of it around and more employees are exposed to it. A 2002 study cited (in addition to lack of privacy and confidentiality) increased noise as a primary complaint of open offices listed by surveyed employees.
Individual Worker Performance
- Why open space is good: It’s not hard to see how an open office design can facilitate more teamwork and better communication. In support of this premise, a 1996 research study published in the Harvard Business Review revealed that companies that had modified their business processes by, among other things, migrating from private spaces to open environments realized performance increases averaging 440 percent.
- Why open space is bad: Lack of privacy is often cited as a downside of open space offices, but its impact can be more profound than simply a feeling of inconvenience. In her book Communication Theories in Action, Julia Wood explores the dynamics of communication from a performance standpoint, and offers the theory that there are two types of communication, both of which are needed to be effective: “front stage” (in front of an audience) and “back stage” (where one can relax and not have to worry about what others think). The danger of open offices is that employees may no longer have an individual office area to recuperate from the demands of continual front stage interactions.
So what do we conclude from all this? Well, the fact that there are undeniably positive aspects to open offices is surely a good start. The common-sense thinking is that if we can figure out how to design the open spaces in a way that keeps the good and eliminates (or at least cuts down) the bad lends hope to the thought that the trend is overall a good one and that the negatives can be looked upon as road bumps that need to be overcome. Variations of open office design are already being tried with positive results, some of them based on a very early study by Greg R. Oldham, whose research as far back as 1988 provided information on solutions to some of the problems presented by open office design. The trend towards open offices is not likely to go away anytime soon but there is definitely hope that it can be tweaked and managed in a way that will make open offices look increasingly good, less bad, and never ugly.
About the Author: Dean Stier is Vice President of National Business Furniture, one of America’s leading providers of office desks, office chairs and other office furniture to businesses, government agencies and other institutions.
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