If you have been thinking about connecting genuinely with your customer base, writing a blog, or making better use of your "social media" profiles but have no idea how, consider these three steps which integrate all three. 

In A Nutshell....Create content once.

Re-use it many times. (Its eco-friendly!)

1. Start a blog

Ok, so this much you already know. But what to write about?

Brainstorm a list of the most common questions you get asked in the course of your day by your clients. This is easily accessible information clearly relevant to your client base. Your clients are asking you about it already!

So start writing these down and don't stop until you have at least 15 questions which your customers ask you on a regular basis.

TIP:  It does not matter if you think these are basic questions!  If your clients knew the answers, they would not be asking you.

Next, start writing a response or information pieces based around an easy question.

You now have the draft content for your first blog post.

Ok, its probably not perfect just yet, but you have made a start. Put it aside to rest for a moment. Come back to it in a day or two. Look at another question and pencil in a response. Leave that for a day or two. Go back to the first one. Review and refine. Do this in rotation until you have one that you are reasonably happy with.

POST IT to your BLOG and feel SMUG.

(Congratulations!)

2. Announce the happy news across your social networks

You may have already belong to number of social networks - Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, GooglePlus (and/or some other ones which may be specific to your market). If you are like most people you may be struggling to know what information to put into these networks regularly.

Your newly created blog content is perfect for sharing across your networks. Spend a little time thinking about a headline to introduce your post with. Something to capture the interest to your client base.

Link this directly to your blog post, and you have your first leverage point.

3. Send a summary to your customer database - in your "Blogsletter" **

Once you have had at least 3 blog posts under your belt, you have enough content to warrant sending for your first newsletter. So start to put your Blogsletter together.

Just remember. ** You heard it here first. "The Blogsletter". An email newsletter which is a curated version of your most recent blog posts.

Using content from your own is the perfect way to have something meaningful to communicate to your customers and prospects about.

• You already know these are topics of interest to your clients.
• You have already created content around these topics.
• You have already created some good headlines to grab attention.

So now, you need a brief introduction to go with the headlines and excerpts in your newsletter.

Clients receiving your newsletter will see the main headings, and can click straight through to where your full version of the content lives (on your blog).

Your Adobe Business Catalyst website allows you to integrate these functions seamlessly. Your blog function can be switched on, and your newsletters can be deplyed easily in your e-mail marketing section.

A perfect way to keep in touch, in a meaningful way, with your clients to start with.

Let me know how you go!

After years of working with a variety of platforms to be able to provide a good range of options to clients, I have now decided to develop all websites exclusively using the Adobe Business Catalyst platform.

Why? I hear you ask.

I came to realise that most business owners don't really care which platform their website is built on, so long as they have a reliable, cost effective, and easy to manage website.  

In business, deciding what to stop doing is as important as what to keep doing. So we are now only using the Adobe Business Catalyst platform for all new websites.

It means we can focus entirely on being an online business mentor to our clients. This has been one of the most exciting parts about making this decision. It means the our role becomes one of partnership, support and mentoring, rather than simply managing technology. The only client sites which have experienced hackings, needed upgrades and had functions 'just stop working' have been those sites not on the Adobe Business Catalyst platform. Problems like this -

 

 

"WordPress plugin creating a security issue for millions of sites". And if a problem does occur, then Adobe fix it without the need to get involved with upgrading security patches, plugins and a whole lot of other work.

Our main focus now is to help business owners utilise the web to market their business and better meet the needs their own prospect and client base.

Is that all?

No, and I'm glad you asked. While the stability of the platform is a huge advantage, there are many others.

Integration with customer database

At the core of every business is its customer base. Adobe Business Catalyst provides a built in customer relationship management system which means anytime a customer fills in a form on your site, buys a product or interacts with you in some way, this is recorded - with a range of automated follow-up and marketing options available.

Always up-to-date

The problem with many alternative platforms is that they date.  No sooner has a site been built with WordPress or Joomla than a new version, security patch or plugin is requiring attention. Or the server they are sitting on has an upgrade and things stop working.

With Adobe Business Catalyst, the platform does not date - in fact the reverse happens. It is two steps ahead all the time. While you sleep, security is maintained, fixes are made, new features and functions developed and magically appear in your Dashboard.

Truly Extensible

The platform comes with pretty much everything a small business needs - even if you are not ready to use it all yet.

Most business owners when building their first website, just want to get it up and adopt a staged approach to extra web marketing possibilities. Once built, it is easier to see the marketing opportunities your web presence creates. When using Business Catalyst we can just tap into the functions which are already there - whether it is creating specialised pages to complement print advertising or promotions, creating online events or bookings, or starting to sell things online, or using the built-in email marketing system.

Really Easy to Manage

The Dashboard makes it really easy to manage things like content on your pages, image galleries, blog posts and even your own forms on an as-needs basis. Two training sessions are generally ample to manage the day-to-day running of your site.

So its perfect then?

Its close.

With access to the extensive knowledge base and a ticketed support system, website owners can resolve any issues as they come up. Additional support is available through onlineiq or any of the many other Adobe Business Catalyst partners.

This focus allows us to provide a much better overall experience to our clients - and their clients base, as we know the system inside out.

Something else we love about it...

You may not know, but when onlineiq started using Adobe Business Catalyst 3 years ago, it was just called Business Catalyst - an Australian Company which had developed a fabulous product. So fabulous that it was then acquired by Adobe. You will really notice its Australian origins when accessing some of the tutorials and resources. Its a nice touch.

What if we want to move our existing site to Adobe Business Catalyst?

Just give us a call.  We have moved a number of older sites over to Adobe Business Catalyst recently, and have had some very happy clients. Let us know if you want to talk to them.

Or post questions or comments right here....

onlineiq was invited to present to the South Australian branch of the Australian Physiotherapy Association as part of a Professional Development exercise for the Physiotherapy Business Association group.

It was a challenge to narrow this topic to include what most small business owners needed to know, without having their eyes glaze over from overwhelm (or worse - boredom!).

With a mixed audience of those practitioners having existing websites, and those contemplating their first one, it was important to ensure that both the basics were covered, and some 'next steps' and latest developments included for those with existing websites.

Many people were surprised at the skill set needed to put together a successful web presence, and while I covered some DIY options, the majority of people left feeling that it was best left to the professionals. 

Each of the important elements were discussed, starting with an assessment and plan to achieve the business goals specific to their business (think: architectural plan), design (think: the look & feel), coding (the wiring), copy-writing (the message), images (visuals), and website optimization (being found online).  This is indeed a broad skill-set.  Finding all of these in one individual while not impossible, is rare.  Some of the DIY options available today provide much in the way of design (using templates) and coding (by use of platforms), but having this all work together towards a successful business tool so it bends to your 'marketing' will can be another matter.

Many physio practitioners were not aware of how additional features can help not just with the public-facing site, but with internal business workflows - to streamline queries, newsletter subscriptions and online sales.

The feedback on our talk was great - 'pitched at just the right level', 'surprised I did not fall asleep' (well I took that as good feedback, anyway), and 'why would I do it myself?', when realizing how much cheaper development options had become in the the last few years.

Carolyn Coleman, the Manager of the South Australian Branch commented that  "... the presentation was extremely well received by all who attended.  Thank you for agreeing to having it videoed - as it will become part of the APA's online education offering for Physiotherapists right across Australia. You explained clearly why no-one in business can afford not to have a website now to be on an even playing field - and you gave our members the information they needed to take those first steps confidently."

If you are part of an industry body, small business group or not-for-profit group interested in having a similar talk, please contact Ursh on 0413 606 463.  Bookings for presentations available in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, and always open to invitations from other cities.

Congratulations to Catherine Dodd, whose online marketing efforts are paying off.

Keyword research, a targeted web page and the easy part (for Catherine) - happy customers - all contribute to this great result.

I have spent many hours reassuring nervous clients about their websites - particularly in the middle of the website build. It is an emotional, creative and logistical exercise and process. Just because its something I am familiar and comfortable with does not mean you are.
Here is my take on it - would love to hear yours!
Building a website is much like building a home.
You have a vision or a need.
You explain your ideas.
Someone draws a plan.
You change it. They make suggestions too.
You both agree.
You call the builder.
They look at the plan and quote.
You go ahead or review your plan. You shake on it.
They start to build it.
You see the foundations and think it looks tiny, and worry.
They send you off to find paints and tiles.
It is starting to take form, but you worry that its looking messy.
They send you off to find light fittings and furniture.
You need to make some decisions about your power, gas and telecommunications supplier.
You bring in the paint, the tiles, and order the light fittings and furniture.
The preparation for the painting begins.
The paint goes on. Its starting to feel real. A bit echoey but real.

You realise you really do need that furniture, that carpet and the light fittings to make it feel like home.

You get some furniture. You move it around. You sit on it.

You invite a few friends. They tell you what they think.

You tell the builder. He tells you what is possible [and what isn't].

He makes the changes.
You move in, do some landscaping and put everything away.

You send out the invitations.

You have a housewarming.
Your website has been launched!

Let it never be said that I would recommend something that I do not use myself.  I have been touting Jing's virtues for as long as I can remember.

But a word of warning.  If you find your computer slowing down after much use (I have been using it all day, everyday for 3 years) I had accumulated quite a history.

3.58GB to be precise, for a total of 24,088 items!  Don't believe me??



This explains a LOT!!

So in addition to recommending that everyone use this, I now recommend that you all also watch this video if you do become a prolific user - so you can stop the memory hogging that accumulates after years of daily use.  Here is the official blog post about it from JingProject.

I think its a credit to my Mac that anything worked on it at all with this running in the background :)

The good thing is that all you need to do is remove the folder from the Library - so you don't need to lose the history (and it does not affect what you have stored in your screencast account).  You can simply archive this folder if you ever need to access those Jings.

Jing is my most frequently used online tool.

It captures what you see on your screen in seconds - either a still image or a short video.  You simply save the image or video file to your computer, or you can email a link of the image/video to whoever you want.

I encourage everyone to use it - it saves hours of frustration and verbal explanations.  If you are asked to give feedback about a design or any other visual information, there is nothing quicker or more precise. 

• showing an instant screen shot or video to tech support when funny things are going on with your computer
• capturing an image from your computer
• preparing training videos 
• Jing Pro - (at just $14.95US per year) allows for higher quality sound, and up to 5 minute videos.

I have been prompted to write this as a result of the third incident of lost assignments - but it applies to all your important documents.  Take action before it happens to you!

This program is free to use (up to 2GB which is enough for most of your important documents, though you can earn more easily).

This is how it works.

1. First, sign up to Dropbox by clicking on this image.

2. Download Dropbox to your local computer.  It will act like just another folder.

3. Once your file is in the Dropbox, it is instantly backed up.

4. Additionally, you can share selected folders with others.  Great bonus if you have large files to share.

5. You can also access these files online via the web anywhere, or download Dropbox for your iPhone, iPad, iPad applications, to access your files on all of your mobile devices.

One of the benefits of providing face to face training, is in seeing how different people interpret instructions and information.  For this reason, onlineiq prefer to provide guided videos to clearly demonstrate, in context, what needs to be learnt.

However there is an even more basic skill set which is often overlooked in the training - which is people's understanding of what existing tools are available to make any online learning easier.

If you are a computer veteran this will not be news to you, but many people will benefit from understanding how to use their browser's tabs to their benefit.

If browsers and tabs are 'geek speak' to you, please view the following video.