We hear you! Every article you read today tells you that you MUST have a web presence. You MUST have a blog, and you MUST be connected with the social media sites. You MUST work your SEO and you simply have to spend money on pay per click advertising. Ok, so you want to be on top of the game and certainly want your business to grow, however, there is just one of you!
Don't fall into the Social Media Trap, it's a deep hole and there is no ladder to help you climb out. I was having fun the other day with my husband and mimicking my favorite speaker Beth Moore. In my best Beth Moore Texan accent (and of course poofing my hair for the Texas big hair look), I started spouting, "Do you blog, are you working SEO's, did you IM today, people stay with me. Are you on Facebook, Blogger, WordPress or Yahoo? Have you been Tagged, LinkedIn or friended on Friendster? Did you create new content for your web site, email blast your database all while listening to your iTunes or watching your YouTube videos? Come on now, I'm talking to you!" Of course this was all done in fun, but it is all relevant to every business today.
If you do not have a web presence today, you are missing your customer base. It doesn't matter what generation name you carry, below is a list to help you feel like you are in the know, you must be out there in some form.
2000/2001-Present - New Silent Generation or Generation Z
1980-2000 - Millennials or Generation Y
1965-1979 - Generation X
1946-1964 - Baby Boomers
1925-1945 - Silent Generation
1900-1924 - G.I. Generation
The Population Reference Bureau provides an alternate listing and chronology of generational names in the United States.
1983-2001 - New Boomers
1965-1982 - Generation X
1946-1964 - Baby Boomers
1929-1945 - Lucky Few
1909-1928 - Good Warriors
1890-1908 - Hard Timers
1871-1889 - New Worlders
So now that I have presented you with the challenge, here is a tip for home-based business owners or small business owners with a limited staff.
Schedule your time, it is precious and you can't get it back. It is one resource that runs out and once it is gone, it can never be recaptured and is very costly if not used wisely.
Web Site, this is a must. You do not need all the bells and whistles that web developers love to sell. In fact, all of the Flash openings you see actually hurt web sites when they are ranked with the search engines. A brochure site is a great way to enter in to the World Wide Web (www).
Pick one social media site and stay away from the traps. Each social media site has bells and whistles, games and interactive content - they are trying to get you to "stick" to their site, or spend more time with them. Why? So they can sell to their advertisers of course. The more people who sign up and the more time you spend with them means more dollars to them. There is nothing wrong with that but you do not need to "spread the wealth" or spend too much time trying to keep up with the Jones, Smiths or any of your other friends on the sites. Pick one and spend a small amount of scheduled time on it daily or weekly.
Consider hiring a company to help you with the tasks listed above so you can spend time developing your clients and providing outstanding customer service.
Don't panic or feel you are being left behind. You can spend every second of every day learning the tools available to you on the internet and when you wake up the next day, you will already be behind the learning curve. New tools, applications and those wonderful acronyms are being developed as you sleep. Spend a little time each week for learning and relax - no one is on top of everything (and don't let those high priced marketers tell you any different).
We hope this article has brought a smile to your face, given you some information to help you with your business and let you have a sigh of relief knowing you are "ok" and doing just fine in this wonderful high speed internet world.
Blessings to your week and remember Colossians 3:23, "Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people!"
Since we launched our website for Shred Wise, Inc. over 2 years ago we have experienced consistent growth. Many people who call mention our website and how easy it is to find the information they need. Websites are a must in today's business climate. We are also finding that the longer our site is up the more traffic we receive just as a function of being recognized and scanned by the "google-bot" and other scanning services.
ReplyDeleteSocial media has been a little spottier for us. We do Facebook and have a company page but not many people are seeking out our page, with the possible exception of our competetors! Linked in has had it's benefits. We have received a few questions regarding shredding.
I think the key is to keep fresh content, which is a struggle for me, but a necessary element for interactive social media action.
Great article! Thanks