I was given the opportunity to run the Twitter account for the event Youth Marketing Strategy 2013  I was invited by my friend James Eder (find him on Twitter here) because well he knew he could trust me to do a good job – as I am a seasoned and consistent Twitter user, and I have quite a few tricks up my sleeve!

It wasn’t my first live tweeting experience

Tweeting is part of my life, and events are a great place to really experience the magic of Twitter. Most events nowadays have a hashtag, which is invented by the people who create the event. When I run my social media seminars, I usually use the hashtag #dontignoreit, meaning “Social Media – can you afford to ignore it”.

Why tweet live?

A quick rundown of the “why” before I dive into the tips!

1. You can meet new people who are at the event, via Twitter. You may not even meet them in real life, but Twitter users are an open and friendly bunch and Twitter is the type of network where it’s ok to talk to strangers. So, follow the hashtag, follow the tweeters who tweet with that hashtag, and reply to them/say hi. One time I was at an event in Brighton and noticed the guy next to me tweeting. So I sent him a tweet saying “Hi I am sitting right next to you”
2. Your followers know you are at the event. By tweeting about the event, and with the hashtag, you and other poeple in the room who are doing the same are essentially inviting other people who are not physically there to share the experience. Often, we get tweets from those who follow us, or retweets.
3. By being one of the people actively tweeting at an event, you raise your profile. Not only from poeple who are watching the hashtag while not there, or people who are looking at the tweets while at the event, but also often if the event displays tweets on a screen, your name and Twitter stream would be seen by the delegates there.
4. You can leave early and still keep tweeting if you want to. Sneaky, I know, but you can if you are tired or have another event / appointment to go to, and then just keep up with tweets and you won’t experience “FOMO” (Fear Of Missing Out”)

Convinced? Time to get your Twitter ducks in a row! Here’s how to prepare for your day of live tweeting at an event

For this particular event, my job for the day was to be the official Twitter account for the event. Quite a big responsibility. It’s important to prepare your Twitter account so you make the most of the opportunity you have on the day.

1. Make sure your Twitter account is properly setup - Anyone who has done live tweeting at an event knows you get more people looking at your Twitter page and bi0 – so make sure your bio reads well, you have a good profile picture (don’t be an egg!), put in a branded background
2. Follow others who talk about the event – In the run up to the event, note who is going to the event, and follow them on Twitter.
3. Create different Twitter lists – specifically for delegates and for speakers, so you can check what they are tweeting and start interacting with them before the event.
4. Tweet relevant content - In my case the event was about marketing for young people (also known as “millenials” and “digital natives”) so we tweeted links to relevant articles on blogs and news websites about this, as well as general buzz creating tweets about the upcoming event and conversation with others in the same niche.

9 tips for live tweeting at an event

1. Bring your kit and find a power sourceAs I brought my laptop for the day, I looked for the power source and ensured I kept charged up. Even if you just use your smartphone, it’s a good idea to bring your charger, many venues nowadays have plugs on the outskirts of the room and you can congregate with other people who hang out by the plugs!
2. Summarise what speakers are saying This is the main activity for live tweeting. You are there as a roving reporter, and keep in mind you want your followers and other people who are following the hashtag for the event to get coherent ideas and information. If the speaker says a clear idea, tip or recommendation, tweet it with the speakers’s @name and the proper link to any websites/resources
3. Keep the tone light with hashtags, so the tweets are interesting Try not to be too “samey” with your tweets – keep the tone light as that’s the general culture of Twitter.
4. Gauge audience reaction and include references to mood You can also report on the atmosphere in the room, whether the audience is particularly entertained or interactive with any of the speakers or activities, and what the general mood is in the room (although I would personally not mention any negativity, I like to keep things positive!)
5. Tweet images of the event Share images with your followers, so people can see what the event, venue, speakers, delegates stage and food look like.
6. Retweet the other people tweeting with the hashtag If you see other poeple tweeting things you like or agree with – retweet them! You will make new friends and followers that way, and your followers will also get to see other poeple’s points of view.
7. Follow others in the room As you are at the same event, follow the people in the room, who are also tweeting and using the hashtag. You came to the same event, and you may not meet each other that day (unless you “work the room” like a crazy person!) but you can start to get to know them on Twitter.
8. Follow people who are similar industry who would be interested in the event On the day, you are busy tweeting about a specific topic (whatever the event is about) so if you choose this time to follow people who would also be interested in that, you will grab there attention – if the look at who just followed them, and see you are tweeting about X and they are also all about that X topic, well – you’ll see – many will follow you back!
9. Reply to those who comment If someone is tweeting about the event and you have something to say, reply to them, it’s almost like you are at the bus stop together and one of you comments that the bus is late, and then you agree it is, well – that’s how friendships begin! (Or, if you don’t like the bus analogy, remember – “it’s good to talk”)

So, now you have all the info you need to tweet live at your next event! Send me a tweet and let me know what you think! You can also find out more about my day at the Youth Strategy Marketing event here.

One such client is Cate Meredith from Bene Media. She is actually based in Virginia, so we couldn’t meet her in person, and in fact we still haven’t.

Working with Cate was an absolute pleasure. She was so enthusiastic and easy going, and was so happy every time we showed her the next phase. We did all our meetings with Skype video and basically as
I went through each stage with her, there was always happy exclamations and appreciations. I loved working with her and can’t wait to meet her in person!

Cate filled out the form on our website, and we asked “how did you hear about us” and she said

“Thanks for your quick reply. I found your website because I asked on Twitter if anyone could recommend a website designer. One person recommended another English design firm which didn’t impress me. However, because my boyfriend is English I decided to google for other English designers. Your website and portfolio really impressed me. Specifically, your “A Business Innovation” website is almost *exactly* what I’m looking for. The usage of Flash in that site seems very subtle and gorgeous and it doesn’t suffer when viewed on my iPad. That said, I also like the Kell Skott movement too.”

I love how she calls the Kell Skott project a “movement” – it is a bit since they too have been amazing as clients!

We interviewed Cate to find out if she could put, in her own words, her experiences in setting up her new brand, website and business – a journey we are proud to have been a part of!

Our interview with Cate Meredith

What did you learn from us?

“I like the combination of creativity and work ethic that I saw in Top Left Design. Creativity is important, of course — it is what provides the spark and flair that makes marketing fun. But getting the job done requires “old-fashioned” dedication to work also — try, re-try — work, re-work. I loved the way that Top Left Design went through the iterations of the design process with me and was willing to re-work the product every step of the way until we were happy with the result. That is a mindset and a process I always try to use with my own clients.”
“What motivates you to do such a great job at your marketing?”
Let’s face it … there is an element of marketing that is just plain fun! And, for me, it is like detective work — I feel like Sherlock Holmes (or Nancy Drew) when I am working on a marketing problem. Finding those elements which put a business’ best face forward is like solving a fascinating puzzle. Sometimes the solution to the puzzle seems obvious, but sometimes it takes a while to crack. But there always comes a time when it all clicks … and the satisfaction for me when that moment occurs is truly one of life’s great enjoyments.

Why is it important to you?

“It is important to me because it is important to my clients. Clearly, marketing can (and often does) make or break a company. Nothing is sadder to me than seeing a company with a great product or service, and great employees, that fails because nobody hears about it or understands its value. Good marketing can prevent that tragedy.”

What time management tips can you recommend to other businesses?

“When you’re just starting out, you want to know EVERYTHING and you want it now. That eagerness can cause you to sign up for every free newsletter and webinar, every trial subscription and forum and website you can find. Resist that impulse. It will overwhelm you, weighing you down with time-sucks that you can never get back. Reading newsletters doesn’t necessarily lead to more customers. Focus on your core competencies and outsource everything else. I’ve recently begun to take advantage of all those people working as tax accountants and corporate attorneys and technology consultants, people with PhDs and MDs and so on. It relieves me of feeling like I have to do every single thing myself and frees up time to do the actual work that will get me where I want to go.”

How did you find out about us?

“I discovered Top Left when I was actively searching for a web design company to create my website. I had searched locally at first but was unable to find exactly what I was looking for – design with a difference. When I found Top Left, I was struck by the fact that the company’s portfolio was so varied and gorgeous. When I made my initial contact, I was happy to see that we worked beautifully together, though we were an ocean apart and there time differences to consider. I’ve found Keren, Nichaela, and the whole team to be brilliant to work with, eager to get the details right, always on time and on budget. I wish all work relationships were as easy as this one.”

Aww! Isn’t it all just so wonderful all around! Thanks Cate for being such a wonderful client (yes, we know you are reading this!)

But I am always interested in the business side of social media, as some people still are sceptical. I can say to people “I made a new friend” on Twitter but really people want to know “is it worth my time”. So I asked Stuart to tell his story.

Here are a few thoughts about how Twitter helped me promote my book.

When I finished my first book ‘Designer Devil’, because I was publishing on Kindle I knew I needed to promote it myself. Outside of a few friends and family I realised that for it to reach any audience at all I needed to find a way to bring it to the attention of a larger group. Twitter was the best option for me as I didn’t have contacts that would help with this. When I first started promoting DD I had about 40 followers, as of this morning the figure is 2743.

Getting Enough Exposure

At first I began by just adding a link to my Amazon page, tweeting it and hoping for the best. But I soon realised that this wasn’t enough so I followed a lot of writers who were doing the same as me, and most followed back. This immediately gave me more reach as I found out to my delight that fellow writers will often re-tweet your promotions thus gaining you loads more exposure and lots of new followers. This process is a snowball effect, as the more people you interact with the more see your promotions. After a while I found that writers followed me, and I was glad to repay the favour.

Supporters

Certain people have been particularly helpful in supporting, advising and promoting my writing. One of those Keren has been you. You started off by giving me some tips on improving my blog and then helped me promote DD and the follow up Jed Lomax. You’ve also been very nice about the actual writing itself. I really appreciate it.

Social networking helped initiate the international sales

But in summary, thanks to Twitter, my two books have reached an audience all over the world. Copies have been sold in the USA, Australia, Spain, Germany and of course many in the UK. Without Twitter I expect that only a few family and friends would have seen it, but as it stands thousands of copies of my work are sitting on Kindles all over the world, and given my total lack of contacts in the business, this was only possible with social networking.

It’s been a long time coming

I finally did the screencast for how to change the vanity url on your LinkedIn profile. It really bugs me when I see so many people on LinkedIn where they haven’t done it. It’s very easy to do (2 mins) but it’s not THAT obvious or straightforward on LinkedIn.

You may have already done this, in which case all you need to share this video to those you know who need it.I am going to show you how to change your VANITY URL.

What is a vanity URL?

This is the direct link to your LinkedIn profile. It is also known as the “Professional Profile URL”. It is the link you could share by email if you wanted to direct someone to your LinkedIn profile.

By default this shows up quite messy. UK.LinkedIn.com/in/a bunch of funny numbers, like this example here.

But you can easily change it!

Here’s how:

Under Edit Profile click the “edit” button next to the URL.

Mine is already nice and neat but yours might look like the other example I show in the video and be a big mess of numbers.

So, you click on Edit and then, strangely it seems to have disappeared. This is the “not so straightforward” part of LinkedIn. You need to look over on the right, under the tick boxes.

There is the bit that says “Customise your public profile URL”.

Click on that and you will see a popup window. That is where you type in your name, all lower case, or if that’s taken, some combination of your name and what you do. Watch the video and see my demo!

That’s it. Now your Vanity URL is done on your LinkedIn Profile you can be proud that your LinkedIn profile has a nice neat url.

1. Your email signature
2. Your website
3. Your business card
4. Your newsletter

Hope you enjoyed that, please send me a message on LinkedIn or email me at keren@topleftdesign.com with any questions.

I was asked to run the @youthstrategy Twitter account on April 16th 2013. So I was there, all day, tweeting away, and listening to awesome speakers talk about how brands can more effectively market to young people – kids, teens, students, young adults. I also wrote this post about live tweeting which will help anyone else who plans to be doing live tweeting at an event. You can read that here.

But for this post I wanted to share some interesting stats which I hope you will find fascinating!

My takeaways from the event

• Every one knows that young people have been brought up in a world full of digital distractions. It’s a challenge for brands to keep them “brand loyal” – but this challenge has meant that brands are being ever more creative with their marketing, which makes us all realise we need to up our game
• Matt Smith from Rough Hill explained that young people don’t fit into the stereotype of “irresponsible – the world handed to them on a plate and they dont appreciate it” but they are far more self reliant, mature and accepting of others. There is a lack of trust in institutions and brands so the key aim is to win trust.
• One of my favourite speakers of the event was Joeri Van den Bergh – Co-founder and Gen Y Expert at InSites Consulting. His talk was a brilliant finisher and he shared lots of videos (see them at the bottom of this post).
• My favourite slide was the one pictured above. It’s Buddha and on his chest it says “Work Hard” and on his belly it says “and Be Nice to People” and he is holding a sign that says “Play Ping Pong”. This slide came from Mark Runacus (from Karmarama‘s) speech on big data.

The top people tweeting were

• @DigitalBlonde
• @jameseder
• @force7tweets
• @UNITEGroup
• @williammrharris
• @sharinamutreja
• @mysocialmediapa
• @topleftdesign (natch!)

More stats from the day

• Number of followers of the @youthstrategy account before: 1777.
• Number of followers now: 1840
• Number of RTs we got on the day: 30
• How many pictures were taken at the event and shared on Twitter – 27

Top Tweets

Isn’t this cool? I can embed tweets straight into a blog post. Here are some of my favourite tweets from the day.

#YMS13 Clint! @archrival ‘Gen Y are time stressed, life hacking & life tracking’

— UNITE Group (@UNITEGroup) April 16, 2013

First time I am preaching #coolbrands in the right setting #yms13 #geny #millennials #london twitter.com/Joeri_InSites/…

— Joeri Van den Bergh (@Joeri_InSites) April 16, 2013

Top things new students say they can’t do without. Mobile phone, alcohol, laptop, food and paracetamol #YMS13

— Karen Fewell (@DigitalBlonde) April 16, 2013

Loved @joeri_insites‘s talk at #YMS13 – lots of escalators. Lucky he gave us this conclusion slide! twitter.com/topleftdesign/…

— Keren Lerner (@topleftdesign) April 16, 2013

Hear from the youth directly at #yms13 : Truth 1 – not all youth are depressed. twitter.com/sharinamutreja…

— Sharina Mutreja (@sharinamutreja) April 16, 2013

Thanks @youthstrategy for a great #yms13 Really is THE #youthmarkeitng event for trends, insights and connections. Will be back for #yms14!

— William Harris (@williammrharris) April 16, 2013

Those cool videos I mentioned

Joeri Van Den Bergh shared some great video campaigns which had been super effective. Below is a selection for your inspiration.

Unlock the 007 in you. You have 70 seconds!

The greenest leaflet campaign in the world!

Push to Add Drama

Russian Vodka Facebook Roulette

I wrote this post for Women Unlimited Worldwide but though I would include it here too! Hope you find it useful!

What’s the point of your website? Often, if you are a business, it’s to convince people to buy your services or products.

What makes people buy? They need to feel they know you, like you and trust you.

Which is why you need to build credibility – yay!

So now I have convinced you you need to read this if you are a business and you have a website, let me reveal  5 things that help you boost credibility on your website.

Testimonials

I know, these can be faked, but when people have testimonials on their website, they do help to convince people “oh, there is someone else who used this company and they liked their services”. Sometimes testimonials can have the full name of the person who gave it, and sometimes it has to be anonymous/discreet (eg you can put the initials, and what they do / where they are generally) or something generic like that. But whatever your business, if you can get testimonials from clients/customers, do so and put them on your website – your homepage is the best place for them!

Read more tips on testimonials here: on my post entitled “How to supercharge your testimoniais”

Case Studies

These are really important. People love to read stories, and it helps to put your services in context. They like to see that other people like them have used your services, and they like to read about a successful outcome. If you do have case studies on your website make sure they are clear and easy to read, and each case study is organised and formatted consistently with the others on your site. Read our post detailing “5 things your case studies should include”

Advice Posts on Your Blog

You’ve probably heard the buzzword “thought leadership”. I have to admit, I have even used it for people. But really you need to think about your blog as more than a place to update people on your team building events and press mentions (though those are great too, and can even build credibility). Well written and easy to read posts on your blog which give advice help your audience by giving them valuable free information, and also shows off how well you know your topic.

Pictures of you / your team on your team page

This is something that you may not expect to give credibility but it does.  Of course you need to get great pictures taken for the team page (check out ours and let me know if you want the details of our photographer) but being happy to show your faces does make a difference in the trust you can build! It does!

Logos of other companies

Aha – you read the header above and you wondered, what do you mean by that? Or maybe not. But, including the logos of the awards you have won, organisations you are affiliated with, organisations you are a member of, companies you partner with, or your clients – does add credibility. There is something official looking about including these on your website (you can use them in your website footer or on your homepage)

So there you have it. I would love to know your thoughts – what elements of a website make you trust a company more? Please let me know in the comments below!

This is the part of your site which changes regularly, and is meant to.

It’s much more interesting to say on your social networks, “read my new post” (with a great headline) than “I just added a new service on my website’s services page!

Reinforce your key messages

You may have (if you’re smart) introduced key messages elsewhere in your site but by finding clever ways to blog about these things you can reinforce that you really stand by them

Show your company personality

Through your own style of writing, friendly/casual copy, team news, and stories about how you love your work and are proud of your clients and projects, you can really show off the human side of your business and your team

Educate potential clients

How many times have you heard yourself tell your potential clients the same things about how you work, what they can expect from working with you, the results other clients have had, and what makes a project run smoothly? These can all be turned into blog posts to help future clients understand.

Show your expertise

Are you an expert in something? Then show it, by writing multiple blog posts with different types of headings, different angles and different takes n the same topic. These blog posts will form a related post archive so anyone reading one might read another and another, and this will prove that you really are an expert!

Showcase your successes

When you have completed a project with a client, successsfully, you can use this as a case study. You can interview your client, or just tell the story and make sure that your client is happy with the copy before you put it live. Depending on the nature of the project and the way you put it, it can be great publicity for your client too.

Be seen as a useful resource

If you regularly write good advice related to your topic, you will become known as not only an expert in that topic, but as a generous person willing to put time into educating others for free.

Use your blog for guest blogs and interviews

If you want to get to know a contact better, you can feature them on your blog or get them to write a post. It allows for more varied content, saves time as they are doing most of the writing, and it makes them like you more because you made the effort to promote them!

SEO

When you have a blog post, there are several places in WordPress which allows you to tag and categorise the post, use keyword rich addresses. In addition – every time you add a new post to your blog, you add another page to the internet – so more chances of being found by search engines like Google.

More interesting presence on social media

By interspersing links to others content with links to your own, you can get many more pairs of eyes on your website – each blog post is bait to bring people to your site – as long as you make sure your content is excellent and your headlines are catchy.

Make the most of your newsletter

When you have a newsletter it’s better not to have too much text, but rather to have 3-6 short snippets each leading to a more detailed piece – and the detailed pieces can be on your blog.

I got the chance t meet a very special man last year in February, who runs an incredible business called My Web Presenters. They are specialists in Video Marketing, not only the storyboarding, shooting and editing but also how to make those videos convert more visits to sales/signups/enquirers or whatever you want people to do on your website.

My Web Presenters has a London studio, location teams, post production and video marketers. They even have animators and special effects specialists that work for some of the biggest names on the web.

We want to really ramp up the awareness of why video is important, and I am the first to admit, despite coming from a “movie biz” family, with my dad making movies for a living all these years, and now my brother too – I am camera shy. So I don’t really want to go preaching too much about what I don’t practice. This is why I decided, I want to interview Neil, get him to share his answers and expertise, and start showing up more on video. It’s time for me to get over my fears, and for you to SERIOUSLY consider this. I am happy to introduce you to Neil personally. No more shyness.

Anyway, handing it over to Neil and my interview.

My interview with Neil

1. Neil, how long have you been in the video game, and what changes have you seen the most?

I started MWP in 2008 from a simple mission to turn websites interactive. The biggest changes have resulted from broadband speeds increasing to the point where video can stream instantly onto websites without experiencing long waits for the video to load. Nowadays, broadband speeds all round the World are so fast and cheap. that video has become ubiquitous and can totally change the viewers experience. Now, anyone can differentiate their business and dramatise it through video at a third of the cost of 5 years ago.

2. Share with us a couple of fun projects you have worked on lately

The most unusual was filming a magician with a mechanical, talking monkey. The shoot was meant to last 30 minutes ,but the electronics inside the monkey had a fault and it kept repeating the same lines over and over. It took 3 hours of blood, sweat and tears to get it to behave. A fun project was shooting New York fashion week for L’0real, and getting to film behind the scenes with people like the Beckhams.

3. Is it expensive for businesses to have video for their website?

You can now transform any website for less than £1000. You can of course increase production values, but generally it is less expensive than what people have traditionally spent on local or national press advertising. That is why traditional print advertisers are having such a rough time. They simply cannot compete.

4. What type of return on investment can people expect from video, compared to not having video

People want different things, not just more sales. They might want to create thought leadership, or training videos which add value but are not directly a revenue creator. Where we use it for upselling or cross selling, we got a 190% increase in upgrades for Sheraton, and an additional £4,500,000 increase in seat upgrades for Virgin Atlantic. We have increased click through figures by a factor of 13 x.

5. What can people do WRONG with video which would have the opposite effect?

Like any film or story, the secret is in the script. People do not spend enough care on the preparation to make their video engaging. When people are totally cost focused ,they end up with the video equivalent of horsemeat in the product. Bad video is worth than no video, and many people think that any video will work. We AB test, and spend time making sure people will respond.

6. What if people WANT to use video but don’t know what they would do/say if they did it?

That what the experts are there for! MWP have made videos for almost every type of business. Because we see it fresh, we can present the elements that are most powerfully presented through video. Very few people involved in a business can see it clearly. MWP draft perfect pitch scripts that are then honed with the client to pull rather than push the target audience. Knowing how to pull viewers towards you, and not push ,which just creates resistance, is a great skill. I call it “tickling people’s tummies.”

7. How do you cope with camera shy people like me?

We all hate hearing or seeing ourselves on camera. In fact, you Keren would be fantastic on camera because of your natural integrity and authenticity. We haven’t got to be movie stars. We want authenticity to shine through, and we have a friendly, relaxed environment with a performance coach to help people through. We have one person who resisted being filmed for 2 years, and is no addicted to being in front of camera.

8. What tips would you give to people wanting to use video for their businesses?

Focus on return on investment and not how cheap you can get it. Ultimately ,video is a salesperson who works 365 days a year 24/7. You would never hire a cheap sales person who cannot sell, but it is amazing how many people who devalue their brand and their returns by having a video that will bore the pants off anyone. Its about entertainment and engagement, and that takes time and unfortunately a bit of money to get it right.

Excited much? Here’s a great video with Neil giving tips on “Online Video Marketing – How to beat the noise”

I wrote this post for Women Unlimited Worldwide but thought I would include it here too! Hope you find it useful!

We spend a lot of our time creating bespoke websites, so it’s a strange question for me to be attacking. Do I really want to even put this question in your mind?

But here I am bravely writing about this.

Why would I even bring this up?

I know you won’t be able to get value from this post unless I answer this question.  So there are 3 reasons.

1. I really think you should only spend money only when you know there is a return– and you need to consider every investment carefully. An amazing fully thought out well designed expertly written and carefully marketed website with all the blogging and social integration can be quite expensive for a small or start-up business.
2. There are alternative options you can consider, as your business grows, and you can take things in phases. Safer, and it still works! You can dream about your ideal website now, and have the alternative options in the meantime.
3. I want you to know how nice I am.

Remember, this depends on the business.

Sometimes it just won’t fly to have NO website. For example, if you run a professional services company like an accountant, management consultancy, law firm or IFA I don’t think you can get away with the “no website” option.  Similarly any type of agency might also not give the right impression.

But solopreneurs or those who or a small consultancy business could definitely consider getting started with one of the alternative options – as long as they have a really good presentation and activity.

I recently bought something from a company that didn’t have a website. Only a Facebook page.

It just proves it’s possible. I am still in the middle of talking to this company so at this time of writing I won’t be mentioning their name but I will be soon. But what happened was:

• Someone I knew mentioned this product and said it was right up my street (being owl related – this friend of mine knows about how we use owls in our branding at TLD)
• I looked to buy them online and ended up ordering via email as I didn’t see a website. Partly because I want to support other businesses, and partly because I like the product!

So there are choices. You can just have social media but what social media does is open the door – it doesn’t close the sale.

Would a website create more opportunities for this company?

I was thinking about what they could have had on the website – these are the things that would help them in future:

• Contact information for who is in the company one of the main reasons people look up a website is to get contact details.
• What to expect when you buy (in this case it was a product so colours and options, delivery time etc) but in service based businesses it would be the way the company takes clients through their services.

• Credibility building information like testimonials, case studies, awards, memberships, credentials and advice blog posts
• The ability to order/buy the products online – Since this was a product led business – it would either be on their own site, or via an existing site like Etsy (which is for handmade items only, and this product would qualify).

These are the sorts of thing that help turn visits to your company website into enquiries about the services/buying the products described on your site.

By nature websites allow people to choose what they want to learn more about. This is because they have headlines, navigation links, boxes, images and buttons which let people click onto different areas that interest them.  A unique website – if it’s professional and well designed, will help differentiate the company and introduce the brand.

However, there are other options for those who can’t afford this in their business right away – and since you have read this far, here they are:

A single page website - with this you can put in enough information to introduce the brand and give services and contact information. The single page website can always be added to later. You can also include links to all your social profiles, a Twitter feed, embedded YouTube videos, etc. We have done quite a few of these, and they have served our clients extremely well.

See some examples here:

Just a blog – Of course a full website with an integrated blog is best, but you can start with a blog –  WordPress or Tumblr. The benefit of this is you can start creating content and sharing that on social media. This archive of content can be migrated to a full site when you are ready for it.  And you get to work on the HABIT of blogging, often the biggest challenge for small businesses. But remember this has to be professionally presented. Pay attention to detail, use a great design and format your posts properly.

Just a Facebook business page – Like my example, you can even start with this, relying on the good word of others and social sharing. If you have just a Facebook page, study up on best practices. Keep your updates regular and visual, resize your images for Facebook. Include good information in the “about” section. In addition, as part of your content plan, include regular reminders of the credibility building elements interspersed with images relating to your team and offering.

So, I have bravely spelled it out – what do you think?

Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments – have you ever seen a business running without a website? Has it affected your opinion of them? What if they had used some of the advice above – and made sure their “alternative options” were awesome? Would that have helped? Over to you!

They can also be used as “holding pages” while a full website is being worked on, especially if the old version of your site is embarrassing you in some way!

These pages can be scrolling and that means they can have a lot of information  And if you link it to your social channels you get a home base for your entire presence on the web. It’s genius I tell you. Below are some of the ones we have done recently for clients. Click on them to see the full websites – but remember, they are single pagers.

LuBan Advisors

Frank Boltman Restaurant Consultants

Gina Remero Unconventional Business Thinking

Steve Newton Architects

Claire Kidd Content Strategy

MeliMedia