Monday, September 24, 2012

Sunkist and SEO

I am sometimes amazed at the effect the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) craze is having on many companies these days, prompting odd strategies and unnecessary costs - all to get their names in the top ten at Google and Yahoo!. I am reminded of a commercial for Sunkist oranges a few years ago showing a series of people variably squeezing, smelling, rapping, and tossing fruit to determine its freshness; the message was, of course, that there are often simple ways to accomplish seemingly complex tasks such as looking for the sunkist "stamp" on the fruit.

The same can be said for Search engine positioning. Of course, before you even start to think about SEO, you need to analyse the objectives of your web strategy and ensure there is a compelling reason for people to visit (and re-visit) your website - something that provides value with every trip there.

My colleague, John Leahy (president of Halifax CMS developer, immediaC), says that SEO is really a much simpler proposition for most companies than they think. I asked John about a concern I had heard about modern Content Management Systems (CMS) - that they cannot be effective in SEO because the content is all in a database and therefore the search engines can't dig it out. He said that myth is far from the truth and in fact CMS can actually improve positioning since it can enforce the basics that all SEO strategies should include.

So, what are those basics?

Ralph Wilson (Dr. EBiz, Web Marketing Today) has written an informative set of e-books on web marketing. In his Web Marketing Checklist - 31 Ways to Promote Your Website, he lays out 9 essential (and simple) strategies to get your site well placed. They include fundamentals like ensuring your pages have descriptive page titles, the effective use of meta tags in the head section, header tags (H1, H2, etc) in the body section, keywords, links, and easy navigation. He also provides tips about submitting your site to search engines and testing your pages for positioning. Wilson's website contains a wealth of web marketing information and is always worth a visit. You'll likely find him positioned close to #1 for "web marketing"at Google.

SEO's not rocket science, you know - unless of course "rocket science" is the search keyword or phrase for your site!

Web Marketing Today - http://www.wilsonweb.com

Monday, September 17, 2012

In Bed with a Mosquito

My wife placed an Anita Roddick quote under a magnet on our fridge. It reads "If you think yourself too small to be effective, you've never been in bed with a mosquito". It got me thinking again about the many small businesses we have consulted with and for whom we have been able to discover and create new value in eBusiness processes and technologies. Many of them felt at the outset they were "too small" for eBusiness.

I don't buy that - I have yet to find a business that couldn't benefit in some way by the use of a web-based technology. Size matters, of course, but let's consider the difference between a large business's and a small business's implementation of technology (and conversely, what stays the same). The major differences I have noted in my consulting practice is that the small business takes an investment much more seriously since even with an appropriately scaled-down investment, the money is more "personal" and has to compete with many other opportunities, each of which offers a benefit. Larger businesses tend to be less subjective about investments and will try to mitigate risk through a formal Return on Investment analysis. What is very similar, regardless of size, are the purposes and business processes wherein eBusiness can benefit by technology.

Purpose - eBusiness investments generally can contribute in one of three general areas: Generating New Revenue - for example, by developing new sales channels; Saving Costs - for example, using an online marketplace to locate cheaper materials and supplies; and Improving Productivity and Customer Satisfaction - for example using e-commerce or online banking to reduce in-person transactions and meet the customer on their own timeline.

Processes - all businesses to some degree engage in the five stages of Michael Porter's Value Chain: Incoming Logistics - how you get materials, supplies, talent, etc into your business; Operations - the periodic activities you do to turn incoming assets into value producing goods or services; Outgoing Logistics - how you get your goods or services to the market; Sales and Marketing - the activities that inform your customers and support the transaction of value; and After-sales Service and ancillary activities - such as customer follow-up, guarantees and maintenance. There are numerous opportunities to use business technology to generate income, save money, and increase productivity and customer satisfaction throughout the value chain. 

If you'd like to hear how your business can benefit from eBusiness, please contact Stephen at InnovaIT Web Services where we believe in the power of eBusiness for Every Business!

Monday, September 10, 2012

The Emperor's New Clothes (life beyond the website)

Sometimes the value of eBusiness web services can seem a little ethereal. The inspiration for today's column title comes from a conversation I had with a visitor to a recent Downtown Dartmouth Business Commission networking event.

   "So what is it your company does?" he asked.
  "We develop internet-based solutions that help small businesses leverage web services to reduce costs, and increase revenues and productivity" I answered proudly.
  "You design websites, then?" he suggested.
  "Actually, we don't do many websites," I tell him, "most of our applications are private intranets or internal eBusiness applications, not just websites in the standard sense."
  "So can you show me some of these?" he asked.
  "Well, not exactly" I explain, "our applications are typically either highly proprietary intellectual property or they exist as applications that allow one computer system to pass data and instructions to another without a web interface."
  "Hmmm," he scowled, "Sounds like the emperor's new clothes to me!"

  He's right - it sounds a little shady. It's a hard pitch when your best work can't be seen or displayed, but modern internet business solutions (IBS) go way beyond the website. While websites typically represent only a small portion of a company's marketing effort, IBS can provide cost savings, revenue opportunities, and productivity increases throughout the whole value chain - incoming and outgoing logistics, operations, sales and marketing, and support.

 Okay, how about a few examples: consider a company intranet that provides client data to traveling staff through a secure portal no matter where they are; a knowledge management system that preserves corporate wisdom and makes available critical information to your whole enterprise; how about a powerful reporting tool that can allow you to analyze and present real-time performance data from any web-accessible location; perhaps, a project management system that can track time and resources charged to a project from a mobile device in the field, like a phone or PDA. This is just a small sampling of potential web services.

  To engage in eBusiness, you really have to get beyond the web - focus on your own core business, its strengths, and its challenges. Then think how technology could be leveraged to better those conditions. A great starting point for planning your eBusiness strategy is the ebiz.enable resource on Industry Canada's Strategis website. Check out the link below.

  Now if you'll please excuse me, I have a web service to weave - the emperor is waiting!

EBIZ Planning Tools: http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/ebizenable

Monday, September 3, 2012

The Devil You Know


An old joke tells of the dandy who won a sheep, betting a farmer that he could use his technical gadgetry to determine the exact number of animals in his flock. Combining technology from his laptop, a handheld, cell connection, satellite imagery and an artificial intellgence system, he got the right number and grabbed one of the animals for his prize. Before he could stuff the poor animal into the trunk of his Saab, the farmer countered the bet stating he could guess the young man's occupation. The young man agreed and the farmer suggested "you must be a consultant".

"How did you know?" asked the man. "Well," says the farmer, "you show up here uninvited, give me a solution to a question I already knew the answer to, and you know nothing about my business. Now give me back my dog!"

OK, so the value of a consultant's work is often questioned, but there remain many benefits to engaging a professional management consultant or business analyst not the least of which is access to effective strategic advice from an objective, professional perspective. The challenge is selecting a consultant who will reliably return positive value. With few credentials for the profession, and little recourse on potentially poor advice, how can you make a well-informed choice?
     
Familiarity is, of course, a great benefit. If you have had a positive experience (or even an enthusiastic reference from a trusted source) for a particular consultant, then the "devil you know" will certainly outshine the "halo effect" from the most dazzling RFP response you just received from some unknown firm. Recommendations on a service like Linked-In can be valuable as long as you trust the source of the recommendation and it is current and relevant to your project.
  
Credentials, such as membership or accreditation in organizations like Canadian Association of Management Consultants (CAMC), International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) or Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA), add credibility as do post-secondary degrees in business or an area related to your industry.
  
Your consultant's portfolio should include engagements in areas and scope similar to your requirements. Follow up on any project references provided.
  
The relationship with a consultant requires strong two-way communications so look for that skill set in any candidate you are considering. Keep a shorter leash on new consultants but even for those with whom you have a history, be sure to insist on regular progress reporting.
  
Analysts and consultants rarely guarantee 100% efficacy of results, but selecting one whose credentials, portfolio and working style reflect qualified professionalism will improve probability of success in a consulting engagement. Additional advice is available from the IIBA, CAMC, and CICA websites listed below.

International INstitute of Business Analysis (www.iiba.com)
Canadian Association of Management Consultants (www.camc.com)
Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (www.cica.ca)