Is your company using its website to its full potential? Is your website a dynamic business-building tool? Maximising your web presence is essential in today’s tough business world. There are two major ways in which you can have your website work for you. You can use it to drive sales and marketing of your business. Secondly, you can use it to cut costs and actually do work for your company.

Improve Image, Increase sales
You should use your website to drive sales, to assist marketing and to increase the overall image of your business. Many customers will make their buying decision based on their impression of your company’s website. In the past it was enough to simply have a web site. Today users are much more inclined to do business with companies that have a very professional image on the Internet.

Cut Costs by Maximising Use of Your Website - replace printed materials with electronic ones
Many companies send out printed materials to their customers for a variety of reasons. These materials may include catalogues, information packets and even applications. A corporate website can be adapted to help cut the costs of these mailings.

An example: a group customer approached us to develop their new corporate web site. Like many businesses, they wanted to keep costs to a minimum. Their instructions were to create a simple two- or three-page website giving customers basic information.

As we talked to them and learnt more about their company, we found that they are required by law to send each of their customers a pack of information periodically. A form has to be completed and sent back. They average sending out 125 per month. When they calculated the costs for printing and posting they realised it was costing approximately £650 per month.

After showing them how they could put the same materials into PDF format and let their customers download the information from their website, they were going to end up saving about £7800 per year by having and fully utilising a company web site. They were initially worried about spending too much money, when in reality by not having a web site and using it properly, they were spending £7800 more per year. The additional cost for this feature was money well spent.

Use your suppliers’ expensive website information on your website
Corporate websites can be set up to use information and graphics from high profile supplier websites. For example, a car dealership could have Toyota materials on their website. These website materials are usually of very high quality and typically not very affordable if you have custom graphics done. Incorporating this high quality information on you own website will promote your supplier’s products and provide a more professional look to your site.

Make customer job status available online
A separate login restricted area can provide your customers access to information on their projects in real time. Providing this information on your website is beneficial to you and to your customer. Your office staff will be freed up to do other things besides giving project updates over the phone.

Accept online payments/provide e-commerce
Open new avenues for money to come in to your business. Allowing your customers to purchase your products directly from your website can boost sales. Your products will also be available to a much wider audience.

Recent research by Datamonitor (commissioned by PayPal) suggests that the growth of online sales will continue. they are predicting that £18.5 million worth of spending will shirt to Internet retailers by 2010 and within 4 years 6% of UK consumer spending will be done online. Can you afford not to be part of this?

Wayne

As a member of businessXchange - the Business Link Peer Support Group - i was privileged to attend the New Forset meeting and listen to Richard Mack of Connect2 give us 10 great tips for networking.

If you’re looking to grow your business and find new customers, networking is a very effective tool. With Richard’s permission, here are his tips for getting the most from any networking you do.

10 Golden Tips For Effective Networking

1 Set Networking Goals
Determine the types of people you want to meet, how many you want to meet, and what functions/events you are going to attend

2 Review The Delegates
Look for companies or people that you’d like to meet with.
Some groups (Business Xchange) will even try to assist you in your quest.

3 Get Your Attitude Right
You can spot a naïve networker from across the room:
They ask “How can I get referrals?”
They dart from conversation to conversation passing out business cards
They “Sell” at every opportunity.
The smart networker thinks differently:
They ask, “How can I help others”
They are often looking for just ONE really good contact

4 Go It Alone.
Moving about a networking event solo encourages people to approach you.
And makes it easier to initiate conversations.

5 Get “Tooled Up”
Have you got enough business cards?
Consider other ways to promote your business (leaflets, pens, etc)

6 The Elevator Speech
It’s YOUR job to make this memorable.
Help your fellow networkers to remember you
Develop it into a 16 second sizzler.
When somebody asks you “What do you do”, offer an UNFORGETTABLE answer in less than 5 seconds that makes them say,
“Really….?…Cool”

7 Arrive Early, Stay Late
Some of the best opportunites are BEFORE the meeting starts
If you came just to listen to the Key Note Speaker and are in a rush to get away, you are missing out on much of the value the meeting can provide.

8 Circle and Scan
Before diving into the event, try circling the room.
Look for nametags of people or companies you’d like to talk to
Look for people standing alone. They may be nervous and will welcome your approach.
It’s much harder to join a group unless you either know someone, or are invited.

9 Sit With Strangers
If the event is a sit down affair, do not sit with either a friend or associate.
You already know these people!!!!!
Plan who you want to sit with.

10 Follow Up
Does this ever happen to you? You meet someone at an event, exchange business cards, and agree to follow-up with each other. Then nothing happens!!!
You get back to your desk, put their card by the phone, but never get round to calling.

Two weeks later you look at the card and say “Who was that person”.

If you network in the Dorset/Hampshire area it would be great to meet you. Have a look at the attendee list of the events you are at. If I’m on it make sure you find me and introduce yourself.

Good luck with finding new customers!

Wayne

Even though you are a small business, maybe even working at home, you are a target for hackers. Why are you a target? Because we all are!

Harness Power: denial of service (DoS) attacks involve many computers bombarding an Internet server to make it crash. Your computer could be hijacked for a DoS attack.
Alias: the biggest risk to you personally is identity theft. Depending on the hacker’s motives, you could either see an increase in credit card spending or see your identity used to slander clients or competitors.
Carelessness: this is not personal. Hackers operate like car thieves: they try every car door in the street. The one they steal is the one where the door is unlocked!
Kindergarten: there are hackers who practice on small, weak sites as part of their early education.
Now you know the risks, what can you do to protect yourself and not be the one with the ‘open door’?
· Firewall – preferably a hardware solution, especially for networked computers.
· A security policy - make staff aware of it.
· Anti-virus – keep it updated.
· Spam control – be careful with e-mails.
· Audit – check your systems. Get an outside consultancy to come and run checks for you.
· Be proactive - you know the risks and solutions, what excuse have you got?
Don’t let costs be a barrier. There are cost effective solutions, but more importantly: how much would it cost you if your business data was stolen or destroyed?

Keep safe!

Wayne

Following quickly on from establishing a UK presence here in Dorset, Saratoga has again achieved dramatic growth in the US.

“Although the IT market is a very competitive one here in the UK, we know the Saratoga model will bring us success and we are already seeing this become a reality,” said Wayne Harris, UK Sales and Marketing Executive for Saratoga. “If we continue to replicate the focus on our customer’s needs, the relationships we have with our customers and the service we provide our customers with, we will see the same type of growth as enjoyed by our colleagues around the world.”

Saratoga Technologies Named to 2006 Fast-Growth 100 List by CMP Media’s CRN Magazine
Johnson City, TN, July 24, 2006 – Saratoga Technologies today announced that it has been identified by CMP Media’s CRN magazine (www.crn.com), as a 2006 Fast-Growth 100 company. Saratoga was one of only 25 companies that made both the 2005 and 2006 Fast Growth List and one of only three Tennessee companies to make the 2006 list. A total technology solutions concept, coupled with unique financing options, helped propel Saratoga to a two year growth rate of over 91% and rankings of #30 in 2005 and #70 in 2006.

“We are very proud to be recognized not only for fast growth but consistent growth as well,” said David Temple, president of Saratoga. “Saratoga is committed to becoming the premier technology solutions company in the entire region and we want to thank all of our clients who have helped us achieve this record growth.”

“What makes this list so unique, and compelling, is that it represents such a large cross-section of the channel universe. What’s more, this is a dynamic list. While 25 companies that were on CRN’s 2005 Fast Growth 100 ranking made the grade again this year, sheer ingenuity and investment savvy propelled 75 new solution providers to growth rates worthy of the final cut.”

Saratoga Technologies Named to Business Tennessee Magazine’s 2006 Fast50 List
Johnson City, Tennessee, Friday August 4, 2006 – Saratoga Technologies today announced that it has been identified by Business Tennessee magazine (www.businesstn.com), as a 2006 Fast50 company. Saratoga was the only company from the Tri-Cities that made both the 2005 and 2006 Fast50 List and one of only two Johnson City based companies to make the 2006 list.

A competitive edge served the company’s on this year’s list in an additional manner—getting them on the list at all. Making the list required standing out in a crowded field—the number of companies nominated this year surpassed the total from the two previous years combined. Clearly, Fast50 status is becoming a much sought after designation and source of pride for companies across Tennessee.

www.saratogauk.com