by indepe62 | May 9, 2018 | Blogging, Workshops
Do you have a business blog, but it’s been months, or even years, since your last published post? Or have you been meaning to launch a blog, but have no idea where to start?
If this sounds like you, then it’s time to take action. Come along to Write Time Marketing’s ‘Write Your Blog, Right!’ workshop!
Some of the topics covered include:
? Blogging benefits – SEO & personal branding
? Best blogging platforms
? Structuring your blog – word length, headings etc.
Hosted by Leanne Shelton, this 2-hour workshop will highlight the benefits of blogging when it comes to personal branding and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), suggest ways to get your blog underway or back on track, and provide tips for attracting more views and readership, plus much more.
Taking a hands-on approach, there will be opportunities to reflect on your current blog posts (if applicable), plan potential blog topics for the future, and walk away with an outline for your next blog post!
– Your current blog posts (if applicable)
Date: May 17th
Time: 9:30 – 12:00
Cost: 2018 Financial Members – Free, and Casual Attendance – $45 for the workshop.
RSVP to: julie@independentbusinessnetworkinc.com
by indepe62 | Mar 12, 2018 | Business Services
Workshop: Web Copy – Leanne Shelton, Write Time Marketing
Are you eager to launch your new website – but your web copy is still incomplete? Or are you unsatisfied with your current web copy and want to give it a refresh?
Perhaps you’re feeling overwhelmed by it all, unsure of what to include, or not feeling confident with what you have put together.
If this sounds like you, then it’s time to take action. Come along to Write Time Marketing’s ‘Write Your Web Copy, Right!’ workshop!
This 2-hour workshop will highlight how to write enticing web copy that will engage your potential customers – and ultimately make you stand out from the crowd.
Taking a hands-on approach, there will be plenty of opportunities throughout the workshop to reflect on your key audience, reassess your ‘why’, and review your current web copy (if applicable).
Some of the topics covered include:
Knowing your audience
Creating relevant content
Having a strong call to action
Proofreading and editing
Avoiding plagiarism and copyright issues
Optimising your content for SEO
What you need to bring:
Your current web copy (if applicable)
A positive attitude!
Cost: 2018 Financial Members – Free, and Casual Attendance – $45 for workshop.
RSVP to: julie@independentbusinessnetworkinc.com
by indepe62 | Feb 5, 2018 | Business Services
February – SEO WORKSHOP
15 FEBRUARY 2018 – SEO WORKSHOP run by the awesome Kate Toon from The Recipe for SEO Success
Cost: 2018 IBNInc Financial Members – Free, and Casual Attendance – $45 for workshop.
RSVP to: julie@independentbusinessnetworkinc.com.
Our first meeting for 2018 and we are starting off with a fantastic SEO WORKSHOP run by the awesome Kate Toon from The Recipe for SEO Success
Workshop Details
Who is this training for? – If you’ve been struggling to grapple the Google Beast this training session is for you.
This training has been designed to help business owners, marketing types, ecommerce store owners, copywriters, designers, and pretty much anybody with a website feel more confident about Search Engine Optimisation.
The training is fine for those with ZERO SEO knowledge but a basic understanding of the internet.
In this session you’ll get:
• An understanding of how Search Engines actually work and what they’re looking for
• A big dose of myth busting around algorithm updates, duplicate content, naughty SEO tactics and more
• Practical, doable tactics to improve your SEO
• Solid trustworthy advice on proven tactics
• A delicious SEO cookie!
And although I don’t like to toot my own horn, I’m an award winning SEO copywriter and SEO consultant who’s helped big brands and small businesses achieve amazing Google results.
In this short juicy training session we’ll crack through..
• What is Google and how does it work?
• Why SEO is the most powerful marketing tactic
• What the different algorithm updates mean and how they affect your website
• The 6 basic steps of SEO success
• How to audit your site
• How to choose the right keywords
• How to write SEO friendly copy
• A live Q&A session, ask me anything
You’ll leave the session feeling more confident about the world of SEO and with some nifty new tactics to try.
by indepe62 | Dec 23, 2015 | Business Services
A wish for all our members past and present, may all your major troubles be behind you and we hope your business grows to where you would like it to be!
We look forward to 2016, in our new venue and once again seeing all of you.
Merry Christmas
by ibnincadmin | Jun 25, 2014 | Business Services
Like jam and cream go hand in hand, so too does networking with running a successful business. But many of us dread walking into a room and introducing ourselves to a bunch of strangers.
Here are some valuable tips that have worked for me over the years:
Networking Glamour!
1. Get there early. Showing up early at a networking event is a much better strategy than getting there on the later side. It is quieter and people won’t have settled into groups yet, making it easier to find a conversation partner.
2. Ask opening questions. Don’t wait for someone to approach you. To start a conversation, simply walk up to a person or a group, and say, “May I join you” or “What brings you to this event?” Don’t forget to listen intently to their replies.
3. Ditch the sales pitch. Remember, networking is all about relationship building. Keep your exchange light and informal – you don’t need to do the hard sell within the first few minutes. The idea is to get the conversation started. People are more apt to do business with – or partner with – people whose company they enjoy.
If a potential customer does ask you about your product or service, be ready with an easy description of your company – practice this often!
4. Share your passion. Win people over with your enthusiasm for your product or service. Leave a lasting impression by telling a story about why you were inspired to create your company. When you are passionate about what you do, it is contagious and when you get other people to share their passion, it creates a memorable two-way conversation.
5. Smile. It’s a simple, but often overlooked, rule of engagement. By smiling, you’ll put your nervous self at ease and come across as friendly and inviting to others. Remember to smile before you enter the room, or before you start your next conversation.
6. Don’t hijack the conversation. Some people who dislike networking may overcompensate by dominating the discussion. Don’t forget: The most successful networkers are good at making other people feel special. Make eye contact, repeat their name, listen to what they have to say, and suggest topics that are easy to discuss. Be a conversationalist, not a talker.
7. Remember to follow up. It’s often said that networking is where the conversation begins, not ends. If you’ve made good connections, ask the best way to stay in touch. Some people like email or phone; others prefer social networks like LinkedIn. Get in touch within 48 hours of the event to show you’re interested and available and mention something you discussed, so your contact remembers you.
Keep on Networking!
by Julie Warner | May 27, 2013 | Business, Business Services
The easiest way to grow your customers is not to lose them
The average business loses around 20 percent of its customers annually simply by failing to attend to customer relationships. In some industries this leakage is as high as 80 percent. The cost, in either case, is staggering, but few businesses truly understand the implications.
Imagine two businesses, one that retains 90 percent of its customers, the other retaining 80 percent. If both add new customers at the rate of 20 percent per year, the first will have a 10 percent net growth in customers per year, while the other will have none. Over seven years, the first firm will virtually double, while the second will have no real growth. Everything else being equal, that 10-percent advantage in customer retention will result in a doubling of customers every seven years without doing anything else.
The consequences of customer retention also compound over time, and in sometimes unexpected ways. Even a tiny change in customer retention can cascade through a business system and multiply over time. The resulting effect on long-term profit and growth shouldn’t be underestimated.
Here are 9 Key Retention Strategies:
1. Reducing Attrition
Virtually every business loses some customers, but few ever measure or recognise how many of their customers become inactive. Most businesses, ironically, invest an enormous amount of time, effort and expense building that initial customer relationship. Then they let that relationship go unattended, in some cases even losing interest as soon as the sale been made, or even worse, they abandon the customer as soon as an easily remedied problem occurs, only to have to spend another small fortune to replace that customer. The easiest way to grow your business is not to lose your customers. Once you stop the leakage, it’s often possible to double or triple your growth rate because you’re no longer forced to make up lost ground just to stand still.
2. Sell and then sell again
So many people do an excellent job of making the initial sale, then drop the ball and get complacent, ignoring the customer, while they chase more business. Your selling has actually only just begun when someone makes that initial purchase decision because virtually everyone is susceptible to buyer’s remorse. To lock in that sale, and all of the referrals and repeat business that will flow from it, you need to strike while the iron is hot to allay your customers’ fears and demonstrate by your actions that you really care. You should thank them and remind them again why they’ve made the right decision to deal with you … and put a system in place to sell to them again, and again, constantly proving that they made the right decision.
3. Bring back the “lost sheep”
There’s little point in dedicating massive resources to generating new customers when 25-60% of your dormant customers will be receptive to your attempts to regenerate their business if you approach them the right way, with the right offer. Reactivating customers who already know you and your product is one of the easiest, quickest ways to increase your revenues. Re-contacting and reminding them of your existence, finding out why they’re no longer buying, overcoming their objections and demonstrating that you still value and respect them will usually result in a tremendous bounty of sales and drastically increased revenues in a matter of days … and will lead to some of your best and most loyal customers.
4. Frequent Communications Calendar
Avoid losing your customers by building relationships and keeping in touch using a rolling calendar of communications. This is a programmed sequence of letters, events, phone calls, “thank you’s”, special offers, follow-ups, magic moments, and cards or notes with a personal touch etc. that occur constantly and automatically at defined points in the pre-sales, sales and post-sales process. People not only respond to this positively, they really appreciate it because they feel valued and important. It acknowledges them, keeps them informed, offsets post-purchase doubts, reinforces the reason they’re doing business with you and makes them feel part of your business so that they want to come back again and again.
5. Extraordinary Customer Service
The never-ending pursuit of excellence to keep customers so satisfied that they tell others how well they were treated when doing business with you. Moving the product or service you deliver into the realm of the extraordinary by delivering higher than expected levels of service to each and every customer. Key facets include: dedication to customer satisfaction by every employee; providing immediate response; no buck passing; going above and beyond the call of duty; consistent on-time delivery; delivering what you promise before AND after the sale; a zero-defects and error-free-delivery process and recruiting outstanding people to deliver your customer service. Extraordinary service builds fortunes in repeat customers, whereas poor service will drive your customers to your competition.
6. Courtesy system
A powerful system that improves the interpersonal skills of your team and changes the spirit of your organisation. It involves speaking to colleagues politely and pleasantly, without sarcasm or parody, and treating them at least as well as you would want them to treat your customers. This will help your team to feel worthwhile and important, which makes for pleasant social contacts at work. It also motivates them to provide extraordinary service, encourages them to be consistently pleasant in all of their dealings and to relate to customers in a warm, human and natural manner. This results in better, warmer, stronger, more trusting relationships and longer term bonds with your customers.
7. Product or service integrity
Long-term success and customer retention belongs to those who do not take ethical shortcuts. There must always be total consistency between what you say and do and what your customers experience. The design, build quality, reliability and serviceability of your product or service must be of the standard your customers want, need and expect. Service integrity is also demonstrated by the way you handle the small things, as well as the large. Customers will be attracted to you if you are open and honest with them, care for them, take a genuine interest in them, don’t let them down and practice what you preach … and they will avoid you if you don’t.
8. Measure lifetime value
There’s a vast difference between the one-off profit you might make on an average sale, which ignores the bigger picture, and the total aggregate profit your average customer represents over the lifetime of their business relationship with you. Once you recognise how much combined profit a customer represents to your business when they purchase from you again and again, over the months, years or decades, you’ll realise the critical importance of taking good care of your customers. And because you’ll understand just how much time, effort and expense you can afford to invest in retaining that customer, you’ll be in control of your marketing expenditure.
9. A complaint is a gift
96 percent of dissatisfied customers don’t complain. They just walk away, and you’ll never know why. That’s because they often don’t know how to complain, or can’t be bothered, or are too frightened, or don’t believe it’ll make any difference. Whilst they may not tell you what’s wrong, they will certainly tell plenty of others. A system for unearthing complaints can therefore be the lifeblood of your business, because customers who complain are giving you a gift, they’re still talking to you, they’re giving you another opportunity to return them to a state of satisfaction and delight them and the manner in which you respond gives you another chance to show what you’re made of and create even greater customer loyalty.
If you need help implementing your Business Retention Strategies – contact Julie now at https://www.facebook.com/YourBusinessHelper
by Julie Warner | Apr 29, 2013 | Business, Business Services
It’s difficult to stay focused on your business goals when challenges arise and your determination is tested if you don’t know why you’re doing something.
You need to know what you’re fighting for, so you are focused and driven to keep pushing ahead. Knowing and understanding your motivation can help you avoid getting sucked into the minutiae of the day to day running of your business.
Use the list below to explore possible motivations and determine what has the biggest impact on you and your desire to succeed.
- Money: Is wealth, paying off debts, or living luxuriously a motivator for you?
- Society: Are you driven by the desire to solve a common problem or improve the lives of others?
- Family: Are you building a legacy you can pass down to your children? Are you starting a business to support or honor your family in some way?
- Expectations: Do you worry about fulfilling the needs of others or what others will think about you if you fail? What are your expectations for yourself?
- Consequences: Are you afraid of what may happen if you don’t start a business and become successful?
- Pride: Pride in yourself and your work can be a powerful motivator for many. Is it for you?
- Passion: Does love for what you do give you the fight to be able to work through the challenges?
- Credibility: Do you look at this business as a way to solidify your credibility or establish yourself as an expert?
- Challenge: Do you thrive on the challenge? Do you purposefully take on initiatives that will stretch you and provide learning opportunities?
Once you know what motivates you to take this bold step of starting a business, you’re ready to make difficult decisions and push through challenges
If you need help getting back on track and motivated to achieve your business goals – contact Julie now at https://www.facebook.com/YourBusinessHelper
by Julie Warner | Apr 23, 2013 | Business, Business Services
Time Management
The key to time management is knowing ourselves, as we can’t actually “manage” time; all we can manage is our own behavior.For many of us this is more than enough of a challenge. While we claim that effective time management is a top priority and that we just have to get more organized, our actions don’t match our stated desires. I’ve invented these time management personality “types” to describe patterns of behavior that sabotage many people’s attempts at time management.
Which of the following time management “types” are you? While intended as fun, this time management exercise may provide you with some clues for more effective time management.
The Fireman – For you, every event is a crisis. You’re so busy putting out fires that you have no time to deal with anything else – especially the boring, mundane things such as time management. Tasks pile up around you while you rush from fire to fire all day.
Typically seen – Running to car.
The Over-Committer – Your problem is you can’t say ‘No’. All anyone has to do is ask, and you’ll chair another committee, take on another project, or organize yet another community event. You’re so busy you don’t even have time to write down all the things you do!
Typically seen – Hiding in rest room.
The Aquarian – There is such as thing as being too “laid-back” – especially when it starts interfering with your ability to finish tasks or bother to return phone calls. Getting to things when you get to them isn’t time management; it’s simple task avoidance.
Typically seen – Hanging out with feet on desk.
The Chatty Kathy – Born to socialize, you have astounding oral communication skills and can’t resist exercising them at every opportunity. Every interaction becomes a long drawn out conversation – especially if there’s an unpleasant task dawning that you’d like to put off.
Typically seen – Talking on cell phone.
The Perfectionist – You have a compulsion to cross all the “t’s” and dot all the “i’s”, preferably with elaborate whorls and curlicues. Exactitude is your watchword, and you feel that no rushed job can be a good job. Finishing tasks to your satisfaction is such a problem you need more time zones, not just more time.
Typically seen – Hunched over latest project.
Hopefully none of these time management personality profiles is a photograph of you! But perhaps these descriptions will provoke some thought about the different ways we manage or mismanage time, and some clues about how we might change our behaviors to make our time management efforts more successful.
If you need help with your time management of all your business tasks – contact us now: https://www.facebook.com/YourBusinessHelper
by AdvancedEducationSolutions | Mar 12, 2013 | Education, Family
It is often emphasised that parents should read to their children from as young as 1 year old.
Firstly simple exposure to reading increases the likely hood that a child will develop prerequisite skills for reading (Abraham & Gram, 2009).
Furthermore, reading encourages the use of thinking skills, helps develop concentration and expands the readers’ vocabulary.
“Children who have been read to in childhood are more motivated to learn to read, and they appreciate that reading is a gateway to new ideas” – Abraham & Gram Reading: Breaking Through the Barriers, 2009 p.12
What are these prerequisite skills for reading you may ask?
- How to hold a book and turn the pages.
- That words on a page have meaning.
- That reading is done from left to right and top to bottom.
- An expanding vocabulary
- An appreciation for the sounds of words.
What can parents do help develop these skills?
- Read
- Read and
- Read aloud, every day or night to your child.
- Have fun with rhyming words
- Get them to repeat lines
- Guess what will happen next in the book?
“Few children learn to read books by themselves. Someone has to lure them into the wonderful world of the written word; someone has to show them the way”.
-Orville Prescott, A Father Reads to His Children
Sharleen Newcombe
Learning and Support Teacher
2013
by TakeCharge | Oct 10, 2012 | Health
It was a week like any other. Nothing new, just memorable because of the great start I had this particular Wednesday morning. It began with JT coming into my room at some ungodly hour, climbing in the bed next to me and falling asleep till 6.30am. A much welcomed change to talking incessantly, flopping all over the bed frustrated at a groggy mum or introducing all his ‘favourite’ toys and books to me to entice me to play – all at 5am(ish).
That morning was particularly nice due to my roller coaster ride with my intolerance’s and allergies and the effects they have on my psyche. The previous two mornings we were “up and at ’em” at the crack of dawn (this was pre daylight savings time so the crack is absurdly early :)). Anyway….not only did I have to get up at the crack, but I awoke to infected sinuses, an accompanying headache, a tumultuous tummy and such overwhelming lethargy I could barely move. But move I did.
For anyone who has suffered depression or deals with anxiety issues, has irritable bowel, sinus, allergies or muscle aches, I know you can relate. Those with auto immune diseases will also gel with my story, but for those of you who are lucky enough to be in good health most of the time, just put your head space into flu mode and you may be able join me on the roller coaster ride that is my life.
I cannot know in advance when I will have a flare up, unless of course it is self inflicted (some times it is just soooo hard to say no to something you crave and love so much). I try to be very vigilant about what goes in to my body and steering clear of known allergens but there is little you can do about coming in contact with trees or cut grass for example. Anyhoo, I digress. Apart from the debilitating physical side effects my little “quirks” bring to the party, it is the mental mind games that do the most damage.
During that week, like most that follow this cycle, I lose all confidence in my abilities. I want to shut down my blog. I see the catastrophe of the weeks passing without me building the right relationships. I see missed opportunities. I see a mountain of work to catch up on. I see others succeeding. I feel I should just give up!
I hate these low days. My mind goes on a downward spiral that is neither helpful or productive. I feel helpless and thats a shitty place to be. I often can’t focus very well and walk around in circles A LOT. The housework falls behind, my to do list goes to potty and the vision of building my blog/business gets very blurry. Those ‘must do’ errands, become a ‘whenever the hell I bloody hell I feel like it’ task and everything else gets relegated to the next status down.
Luckily, this no longer goes on for weeks as it did in the past and generally as a rule of thumb (recently anyway, knock on wood) by Wednesday I am sitting on the hump. I have struggled to get here and am now teetering between feeling downright awful and about to hit the good times.
As you guessed it, the week culminates in me feeling bouncy and alive! That particular week, the Thursday and Friday hit 30 degrees in old Sydney town and you see me basking in all of it’s glory. I have energy, my mind is buzzing with possibilities and I am back on track again. I have ideas bounding out of my head for blog posts, I get stuck into the backlog and if I’m lucky can get started on the weekly tasks. Maybe next week, we can look at the wish list and get this blog/business fire burning.
Where does your head space wander to when you are feeling unwell?
Until next time….
Becc
