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If youre in the business world, youve probably heard of the acronym KISS. What does it stand for? Keep it Simple, Stupid.

Too many times, business owners decide to write their own company materials, whether it is their main website copy, their promotional materials or even their business plan. Often, they can be too close to the business, as they have been a part of it since its inception. The mistake that can be made is that they say too much in their message and they lose potential business because of it.

As I posted in the previous blog, you want to make sure that you can fit your company message on the back of a business card. If you cant, its too complicated to explain to your target market in an advertisement. Customers like uncomplicated products with a simple value proposition.

When you are looking at another companys information, its easy to see when you are being shown too much information. You can feel it. You glance at the page and feel overwhelmed. You cant grasp the general message. As a result you put down the written material, close the browser window or tune out or mute if youre watching a commercial.

The same can be said for your company brochure or packaging. I know you want to get your message across, but the key is to pique peoples interest, not tell your entire company story.

If you have ever purchased anything from Apple, Im sure you felt the difference in the experience. When you opened your quality packaging with minimal copy on it. It felt sleek; it felt special. Rather than sporting a bunch of bright stickers demanding your attention, with a lot of hype, all of their product packaging is just simple and streamlined. (Now Im sure you windows users are immediately turned off by what I just said but until youve had that experience, please give me the benefit of doubt) Less is more.

When it comes to your own business, it can sometimes be easy to forget that you may be saying too much. Its understandable. This is your baby and youve got a lot to say about it. Youve invested long hours and good money in this thing and you want to make sure everybody knows how great it is!

I myself am guilty of the very thing Im preaching about. Ive got a lot to say! Ive got things I want to show people and I have a tendency to want to include everything. I have to constantly check myself to try and make sure that Im not going overboard.

In the next post Ill look for some examples of too busy to show you.

Joanne

That question is a tough one. Many designers feel adamant about not providing mock-ups because the time and effort spent on conceptualizing and designing is time that they should be paid for. I couldn’t agree more.

However, consumers want to make sure that the designer they hire can get the job done for them. Often times designers who claim they understand what the client is looking for and can deliver, fall short. This is a valid point too.

We’ve had potential clients ask for design mock-ups from us in the past. We’ve experienced both positive (getting the job) and negative results (loss of income) from doing so. As a result, we decided to make it our policy not to do mock-ups until hired because the risk outweighs the benefit. It’s a difficult balance as sometimes we aren’t chosen for jobs because we won’t provide a free watermarked mock-up. On the other hand, we’ve had potential clients contact us (because of our affordable pricing) with a watermarked mock-up that another designer had created which they wanted our designers to copy. Keeping that in mind, we decided it wasn’t in our best interest to offer them.

I read an article the other day from a consumer who purchased a logo design from a designer and the sole deciding factor was that they were provided with a mock-up before an agreement was made and that made the designer stand apart from the other design firms in the running.

I also read an article from a designer furious at other designers for providing mock-ups. He was angry because he felt that it was destroying the industry of graphic design. His gripe was that designers are working for free without the guarantee of being compensated and that the practice can also result in copyright infringement.

I wrote this post today because I want to hear your opinion.

Small business owners, please weigh in, tell me what you think! Should designers provide you with mock-ups? Do you feel that it is standard practice in business today?

Designers, are you providing mock-ups to your potential clients? Do you think it is increasing your sales? Or hurting your bottom line?

Please post your comments, or if you don’t feel comfortable sharing in public, please feel free to take the anonymous poll in the upper right hand corner. Or, if you’re one of my regular readers, email me. I’d love to hear what you think!

As always, thanks for reading…

Joanne

Dont monkey around with your future. If youre going to invest in a website – do it right the first time!

What do you really need?

1. A Professional Design
Trust a professional to design your site for you so that you can avoid all of the common mistakes many small businesses make. Just because you can build your site with Yahoo site builder, doesnt mean you should. Take time researching professionals and go with one that has a proven track record and clients to back up their claims.

2. Meta tags
Thats right, you still need them! Time and time again I speak to clients who have a page rank of 0, yet they have had their website up for years. Every time I click the link to view their site and check the source its always the same. No description, no keywords, no title tag. Some argue this point that the search engine crawlers dont pay attention to this due to over-use. I argue right back that youre wrong. Ive seen evidence of it for far too long.

3. Keyword rich content
A delicate balance should be used here. Often times people over stuff their content using the same word over and over. Does it help you in a natural search? No it doesnt. Sometimes it penalizes you. Study up on keyword density (as its also ever changing) and publish your content accordingly.

4. A web CMS (Content Management System)
Unless you have the budget to have a Webmaster on staff, or the budget to continually hire a contractor when you need changes, make sure that you get a CMS solution that will allow you to update your site yourself. It will help with your SEO (search engine optimization) by allowing you to continually provide fresh content to your site.

5. Analytics
Its vitally important that you have analytics installed and that you actually look at them and use them. It doesnt matter if you go with a paid option such as ClickTracks, WebTrends or if you use Google. Just make sure that you do include them. Just think if analytics were available in traditional advertising all these years? What a wonderful tool to be able to tell which one of your marketing campaigns is working. What page on your site is driving people away? What website referrals retain visitors longer. Knowing who your customers are is imperative, and having the ability to make tweaks and measure improvement is a fantastic tool that we all should be using!

6. Good Hosting
If you dont have a reliable host, how will people view your site? If the server is consistently down or your email isnt working you could put your business and your reputation in jeopardy.

7. Basic SEO
You dont have to pay a bundle to see search engine optimization results. Dont trust any company that guarantees you #1 placement. No one can claim that and even if they could get you there for a minute, theyd have to continually work on your site full time in order to keep it there. Also, dont fall into the trap that you have to plunk down a bunch of cash on a PPC (pay per click) campaign in order to be seen on the Internet. It takes time and effort to show up in a natural search result, but if you invest the time the benefits are well worth it.

Most of all make sure that you properly research the designer you decide to go with. Make sure you Google their name and their company domain name. Contact their previous clients and make sure that you feel comfortable talking and that they will be there for you in the future if you need help.

Joanne

As I’m sure you know, today is Earth Day.

You may be asking yourself “How you can I help save the earth when I’m just a small business owner?”.

Every little bit helps, maybe you commuted today or rode your bike, perhaps you used the same paper cup to drink from the water cooler all day. Or maybe you haven’t done anything…yet. It’s not too late!

Here’s what we did today to contribute:

1. We purchased re-usable shopping bags.

2. We changed out the light bulbs in the office to CFL’s (Compact Fluorescent Lamps).

3. We used Blackle today instead of Google.

Small beans I know, but if every person just made a few small changes today – we could make a huge difference.

Please leave a comment and let us know what you did today to honor earth day. We love hearing from you!

Tomorrow I plan to post another small business tip regarding setting up your office space and what equipment you will need.

Thank you to all of you who have emailed regarding the last post and poll!

Joanne

Photo credit (Mitchell Haaseth / NBC Universal)
If youre starting a new business, youll need a place to work. Whether you have decided to work from home or to lease a space, youll need to plan ahead to stay organized with your new business.

The three essential pieces youll need to run your new office are:

1. A COMPUTER
Lets face it; youll need one in this day and age to effectively manage a business. Do they even sell typewriters anymore? Your computer will be the hub for many of your business dealings. You should set up a computer station thats ergonomically correct and comfortable for you. Youll also need:

• An Internet connection
• Back up hardware
• A combination printer/scanner/fax machine
• Software to manage your finances (Ive discussed this in other posts, its important that you keep track of your business expenses from the beginning.) If you dont start off keeping accurate records, you may get too busy to enter the information later. Youll need to account for every dollar come tax time and you dont want to fall short on your record keeping and get penalized as a result.

2. A BUSINESS PHONE LINE
Whether you choose to go with a local number or to have an 800 number, its essential that your potential clients and vendors can reach you. Nowadays there are online “800 number” services that allow you to maintain a professional appearance without all of the expensive phone equipment of days gone by. No longer do we need phone rooms with miles of wiring to keep communications up. You can have your business line forward right to your cell phone when youre out in the field making connections.

3. A BUSINESS ADDRESS
Whether you are working out of your home office, or leasing space; your customers will have more confidence if you have an address. Especially if you have an online business, you should always have a physical address posted. Some small business owners choose to go with a P.O. Box to start off and allow for growth. It can be a smart idea if you expect rapid growth of your small business. You dont want to spend hundreds on your company printed materials only to have them be obsolete a few months down the road because your business took off and you need a new space.

Obviously you’ll need additional items for your business, but these three essentials are key to getting started. When you’re just starting out money is tight, make sure that you research every aspect of any item you are considering purchasing so that you don’t regret your decision later.

You can do it!

Joanne