Tips on Monitoring your Social Media Marketing
admin 
Tips on Monitoring your Social Media Marketing
Spend ten minutesin a day to monitor your social media marketing through the social networking websites.
1. Tweet about your company for about 2 minutes daily
You can monitor real time conversations about your company by using special twitter tools like twitter search. Use RSS feed to shift the various search results to your Google reader. This can be done easily by clicking on the small RSS orange icon after you complete a search.
2. Go through Google Alerts for about 1.5 minutes
Scan your Google Alerts for your company’s name, its products, executives’ names or other brand terms used often. To set things up for this scan to become possible, you can enter your search words and select to receive the updates whenever they happen (or maybe once every day). So, when people now post their blogs about your products, you will receive an alert in your inbox. You must give your quickest possible response to them.
3. Your FaceBook statistics for about a minute
For a minute, visit your company’s FaceBook page. You can find this when you click on the ‘more’ button under the main photo on the current page. Go through your fans list and view the fans count. Check once if any new discussion has started.
4. Remain LinkedIn for at least 3 minutes
Look for questions on linked in which are related to your industry type, which you or your company representative can answer. You can again set up an RSS feed for certain broad categories of the questions so that they directly go to your Google reader. When you see any relevant question, you must respond to it quickly and give a link (URL) to your company’s website.
5. Check other relevant social networking sites for about 2.5 minutes
You can use Google reader to check your Flickr, Digg, Delicious and other similar websites. You can again set up for an RSS feed. It will direct the search results of your company name and industry to your Google reader.
This step is similar to Twitter and Facebook, where again you can centralize your readers’ searches.
Find More Twitter Tips Articles
Ten MORE Tips for Ensuring Buy-In from the Top
Ten MORE Tips for Ensuring Buy-In from the Top
A few weeks ago, we published Ten Tips for Ensuring Buy-In from the Top, a series of handy hints from experts from across the shared services and outsourcing space on how to secure that indispensable C-level sponsorship that, so often, can mean the difference between a smooth successful transformation project and one beset by obstacles and the troubles caused by an apparent lack of mandate.
The article obviously struck a chord, proving extremely popular among SSON readers. Now we return – by popular demand – with ten more tips from the experts, looking at a wide range of tactics designed to get the C-level support you need. If after this you STILL can’t get buy-in from the top, there must be something very wrong indeed…
1. Request action
If you want to secure the ongoing support of the stakeholders that matter, it helps to make them feel as involved as possible with the project at a hands-on level – however you can work it. For starters you don’t just want a verbal “ok” and then nothing: you want ongoing support when required throughout, so keeping at least a fragment of their attention is imperative. How can you do this? Give them something to do, of course…
“One great way to get any stakeholder involved is to request that the person take some action on your behalf,” recommends Julienne Sugarek of CenterPoint Energy. “Some good examples include asking them to share the message about the importance of the project with their peers or staff members, asking if they know others who have embarked on a similar project and, if so, introducing you to that person or requesting they participate in a change management interview. These are very busy folks, so the action should be something that will be easy for them to work into their schedule but also does something meaningful to help further your project.”
2. Don’t ignore the vanity factor
Playing to the vanity of the C-suite isn’t the most original of ideas – but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Show your board successful examples of the kind of thing you’re looking to achieve, highlighting in particular the efforts of the especially big movers and shakers within the business world – the kind of figures your more aspirational C-level players would look up to, read, worship…. Merely suggesting that there’s a place in the Pantheon reserved for the next great transformational leader could win you all the support you need.
“‘C’ who’s most admired,” laughs Stephen Smith, general manager at Diageo’s shared service center in Budapest. “Those widely recognised as ‘great’ in their field have rarely sat on their hands and maintained the status quo. Play on your CFO’s / CIO’s / etc. vanity by showing them the sort of transformations undertaken by those rated as ‘most admired’.”
3. Use recognized, expert advisors
Even the most madcap and potentially lunatic (not, of course, that you’d describe any proposal of yours in such a way!) can obtain a patina of respectability by the judicious use of an association with a big-name advisory firm. Many of the unvoiced concerns of your C-suite will be assuaged or laid to rest completely by the news that your venture is being supported by representatives of one of the major advisors: feeling (however unfairly) that the project is in safer, more experienced hands, your ever-cautious bosses are more likely to sign off on it.
“Trust the experts,” advises shared services head Pedro Ruao. “If the consultants you hired are telling you there’s a better way – review the earlier decision. They can make it work, but proven approaches generate proven results; everything else is a guess!”
4. Show understanding of both large and small scale
Over the course of a career, some people earn the reputation of being “big-picture” operators while others become known for concentrating on the very smallest scale (God, after all, is in the details). It’s up to you to ensure that neither – or, rather, both – of these extremes dominates your pitch. You have to be able to demonstrate an understanding of the broadest consequences of your proposal for the organization – and this means looking long-term, as well as wide-angle; you also need to be able to focus on the finest details of your plan, and explain them at the drop of a hat. If you can persuade the C-suite that you’ve encompassed both extremes within your planning they’ll be al the more convinced of your ability to push the project through without hiccoughs.
“In my personal opinion, typically if you have to convince [the C-suite], two things are
important,” says business manager Vineet Shrivastava. “You have to show the big picture to them, it’s really important for C-suite to understand the macro-level importance of a project/activity. The second thing is to show them the ROI of a project/process; it’s important for them to understand the value (tangible or intangible) which will be increased by doing these activity/projects.”
5. Grab the talent
Even if you don’t have the option of demonstrating big-name advisory support as discussed above, you can ease at least some C-level worries in a similar fashion by a bit of proactive hiring. Bringing on board some resources who’ve already made a success of similar projects at other organizations might well put a bulge in the salary pot, but at any rate that’ll be a drop in the ocean compared with the costs of putting things right after a sub-optimal project implementation, and the value generated in terms of impressing the C-suite with your high-profile acquisition could be incalculable.
“There’s nothing like identifying credible leaders who have done it before and getting them inside the company to make it happen. C-suite like to see this talent on the inside rather than feeling dependent (purely) on consultants or capable but unproven homegrown talent,” says Stephen Smith.
6. Demonstrate process improvements
If you really want to melt the stony hearts of your C–suite, you could do a lot worse than to highlight the benefits your project will have for your organization’s business processes – since “process improvement” remains much more than just a buzz-phrase even in the minds of those who don’t really comprehend it. Pretty much every C-level executive likes to think that he or she has a firm grasp of the processes that keep the life-blood pumping through the company but, in fact, this is often only a very superficial understanding. If you can show – without blinding your target with science – that processes will be streamlined and optimized under your proposals, you’re halfway there.
“Show radical process simplification,” advises ANZ’s Ravichandran Venkataraman. “You must be able to show business how you have simplified business processes, helped reduce complexity, removed non-value added steps in the process (waste reduction) and, therefore, cut costs significantly.”
7. Spotlight the bottom line
The value of a complete compelling business case was highlighted in the first instalment of this article, and “complete” of course means including all relevant financial information – especially highlighting the savings and gains which will be of most interest to a cash-hungry C-site. However, it’s not just a matter of highlighting: use your nous to thrust to the fore any possible positive impact on the bottom line, both within your business case and associated pitch, and on other occasions where appropriate (screaming advantages through a megaphone outside your CFO’s house at 3am might not fall within the “appropriate” category) and frame the information you’re giving in the way which most enhances its plus points.
“Money talks,” says Stephen Smith. “Use benchmarking to show the scale of the possibility. Don’t forget the elimination of the ‘hidden’ costs of legacy systems. There’s gold in them there server farms. Lower up-front investment requirements. Use outsource providers to change the shape of the investment profile – particularly getting the quick returns from lift-and-drop to lower-cost locations.”
8. Get – and use – the right metrics
No doubt you’ll be fully prepared – nay, armed to the teeth – with data when you make your big pitch. But you need to be certain that your data is appropriate to the task in hand: you may be convinced that your project might, say, reduce invoice-processing times by 20%, but that figure might be of absolutely no interest to those in whose hands the big decision lies. However, if you can translate that 20% into a more immediately stimulating figure like “savings of 5%” you’ll have a far-more-attention-grabbing tool, as not only is it more instantly obvious why that’s a benefit, but it’s more obviously applicable to the business as a whole rather than just your little nook within it.
“Show productivity,” urges Ravichandran Venkataraman. “For this, you need to put in place measurement systems. I have worked with various organizations and have come to the conclusion that in most organizations, internal service levels have evolved that do not measure customer-driven outcomes and so all measures are not aligned to business. So, while we show productivity in our measures, it does not result in savings for business. So, put in place measurement systems that have relevance to business and measure productivity that mean reduction of costs to business.”
9. Don’t over-complicate
One potential downside of arming yourself with all the relevant facts and figures is that you try to use all of them, thus potentially alienating C-level players who might pride themselves on their attention to detail but who actually don’t need ALL the details, ALL the time. Similarly, pitching your project via a long stream of information and a hectic welter of different data can lose you your audience very quickly, so keep your pitch simple and to the point. This should also be reflected within what’s actually being proposed: make your project as clear and unfussy as you can, concentrating on what’s directly beneficial to the organization, to avoid any possibility of over-complication.
“Keep it simple,” urges Stephen Smith. “Most companies believe that they’re too complex and spend too much time doing things that aren’t directly driving business value (e.g., planning, budgeting, reporting etc.) Sell the benefits of transformation for standardization and reduction in exceptions. For accelerating the cyclical activities by improving the quality of handoffs and/or automating various aspects etc.”
10. Demonstrate provider perfection (or as close to it as you can)
Even before a couple of high-profile “incidents” (ok, “scandals”) shook the provider side of the shared services and outsourcing space, one of the biggest obstacles for any transformation-minded professional to overcome was the apprehension felt by many decision-makers about placing such faith in providers – “what happens if the provider fails?” being a particularly irksome question. By demonstrating the bona fides, financial security and commercial integrity of your mooted provider you can take these worries out of the equation.
“Select a service provider that has offices in at least the major territories that your company operates in,” recommends Ravichandran Venkataraman. “This is critical to ensure that customer impact is minimised and that you can ensure a small presence with local support from your service provider in every territory. Select a service provider who is financially stable so that the company can withstand difficult times like the ones we are facing now. Select a service provider that can show commitment to your company but also does not depend only on your company for their income from this line of business. So, no single company should contribute to more than 5% of the total income of the service provider. If it is a new service provider, it should belong to a reputed parent. In such cases check systems and processes they have in place and capability to do the work. Ask for a financial and performance guarantee from the parent company.”
________________________________________________________________________
This article was first published on the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) – Read it here: http://www.ssonetwork.com/topic_detail.aspx?id=5710&ekfrm=6&utm_source=ssonetwork.com&utm_medium=SMO&utm_campaign=DIRECTORIES&mac=SSON_External_Listing_2072
About The Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON)
SSON is the largest and most established community of shared services and outsourcing professionals, with over 25,000 members.
SSON provides the roof under which key industry experts and organizations share their experience, knowledge and tools, and practitioner peers connect with other all over the world, both face to face and online.
SSON focuses on developing its members through providing training, tools, and networking opportunities. SSON staff works from international offices in New York, London, Singapore, Sydney, Berlin and Dubai to research current trends and developments in shared services.
More information visit the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) website. Stay up to date with SSON’s latest twitter posts at twitter.com/ssonetwork, connect with global practitioners, providers and advisors on the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) LinkedIn group and Sign up to receive SSON’s weekly updates today
Find More Twitter Tips Articles
Tips for using Social Media as an Online Marketing tool
Tips for using Social Media as an Online Marketing tool
Social media websites are all the rage when it comes to connecting with potential customers and building your business! We all know that Facebook has become extremely popular because it connects people from all over the world. What better way to enhance your business than by using a global tool?! Facebook and Twitter usage has surged more than 200% over the last two years. All kinds of businesses have joined social media websites to promote their brand. It is a well known fact that social media would be one of the most important factors which will affect all business either online or offline. So here are some tips that businesses should follow:
Build a Reputation – Using social media can help you develop an online reputation, with the use of Facebook, you can connect with your potential customers so that they can get a feel for you and your products. Talking to them via the internet can help you build a comfort zone with them.
Provide Information and Support-Since most of your target audience would be using these websites, it is a great idea to make sure that you provide information about your products and customer support on all of these sites. There are many companies that are providing customer support via Twitter.
Feedback/Reviews- Using social media gives you the opportunity to begin listening to what others are saying about your company online. Once you have put yourself out there, it won’t be long before the internet is a buzz about your products and services.
Communicate - Social Media allows you to have one-to-one communication with your customers. This is a great way to develop a more intimate and candid relationship with your consider. This way, you establish trust and they are able to feel your sense of integrity regarding your product.
Also, don’t be afraid to sell yourself and your brand. You will need confidence to establish connections online. Stand behind your product and your name.
These are just a few tips on using social media that will help you optimize your business. Remember that your business is as great as you make it. You want to reach a massive audience. This can be achieved through social media outlets. Branding yourself is putting yourself on stage for all of your potential customers to see. Make sure that you are getting the most out of your internet business experience. Establish yourself and your business so that you can achieve maximum revenues. For more information to sky rocket your profits in 90 days go to http://www.annettapowellonline.com.
Your Professional Success Coach,
Annetta Powell
Top Ten Tips for an Optimal ERP Implementation
Top Ten Tips for an Optimal ERP Implementation
It can be one of the most solid and effective investments an organization can make – but implementing an ERP system can also be nothing short of a nightmare, as unfortunate and battle-scarred practitioners the world over can testify. Get it wrong, and the consequences for your company (and your own professional standing) could be devastating. On the other hand, get it right and your star could shoot upwards along with your organization’s profits.
In an attempt to assist network members who might be contemplating the prolonged and potentially perilous project that is an ERP implementation, we turned to the experts to find out what advice they could give. And here’s the result: SSON’s Top Ten Tips for an Optimal ERP Implementation. Enjoy.
1. Do it for the business
Implementing an ERP system is a huge task that requires significant resources and a great deal of dedication right from the beginning – so, from the beginning, be totally certain that it’s necessary in the first place. This means making sure the implementation is driven by the needs of the business as a whole and not merely by those of individual departments or functions: sure, what’s good for those departments or functions might well be good for the entire organization – but that’s not an absolute given, and the consequences of pressing ahead with such a major project just to make life easier for certain parts of the business for negligible wholesale benefit could be disastrous.
“Even today I still see that the vast majority of ERP implementations are driven by IT,” cautions Philip King, associate partner with Atos Consulting. “Often the objective is to get the system in on time and on budget. This is good, but often the business can be forgotten, and there is minimal bottom-line benefit. In best practice examples the business benefits of the ERP are predicted and measured, both in terms of efficiency and effectiveness, and business stakeholders are leading the governance of the project, supported by IT.”
2. Perfect your business case
So you’ve thought about it long and hard, and you’re convinced this project’s good for the business: now you’ve got to demonstrate that to the decision-makers at the top of your organization. Even if you think getting the proposal passed will be a walk in the park, however, don’t skimp on the business case. An uber-compelling business case won’t just help lay executive concerns to rest; the very act of putting it together (and thus exploring fully the scope and potential impact of the implementation) might also throw up a few new ideas in terms of the needs and requirements of the business, as well as shining the spotlight on areas where you might be able to cut costs, or take steps towards further efficiencies in future.
“Especially in current times every investment in ERP will need to have a rigorous business case,” says Philip King. “It’s tempting to squeeze project budgets to get an ERP or upgrade approved. A better approach is to look for what business benefits can be achieved by the new system, get stakeholder buy-in and ownership, and track and manage their realization. If senior executives can see the returns, they are more likely to ensure sufficient budget is available and protected.”
3. Plan for the future
As those who’ve gone through the process can confirm, putting an ERP system in place isn’t something you want to do on a regular basis: so when preparing for what is after all a protracted and occasionally extremely costly process, it’s crucial to try to be as forward-thinking as possible. This means factoring in (as closely as is feasible, given the information to hand) the future state of the business. Is the company expanding? Are new processes coming on board, or existing ones changing, for whatever reason? While no-one’s expected to be Nostradamus, at the same time it’s going to lead to trouble if a system put in to cope with Organization 1.0 can’t cope with the 2.0 version…
“If required, it is important to plan any changes to the organization and to business processes,” agrees David Turner , director at Unit 4 Agresso. “Any changes will need to be factored into the project delivery; the solution will be built with the future structure and business processes in mind.”
4. Plan – fully and clearly – who does what, when
As with the initial business case, your project planning should be as comprehensive and as tight as possible (while still leaving the requisite degree of flexibility, of course). If everybody knows what they’re supposed to be doing, and when, getting those things done will be all the easier. And that includes reporting: it’s crucial you outline the conduits of crucial information right from the off, otherwise you run the risk of becoming blind to potentially critical developments in the project simply because nobody’s certain who should be bringing them to your attention.
“Before starting agree a feasible plan detailing, when, what and who,” urges David Turner. “Ensure the business case, documented strategies and business process requirements are reflected correctly in the planning and project delivery. Agree a project reporting process that can be used by the project team and business. It must include project status, budget management, risk and issue controls and any change control. Ongoing stakeholder management is very important, especially on longer projects. It is important that you agree any project tolerances with your project manager. This will need to include changes to budget, resource and time-line. If you do not agree project tolerances you will either have all issues escalated or you may only see issues sometime after they have occurred.”
5. Allocate the right people – and enough of them
If you know what needs to be done, you should know how many people should be doing it – right? So far, so sensible – but then perhaps the company has a tough quarter, and maybe the budget starts getting squeezed a little, and maybe someone who should know better thinks you might be able to ‘encourage’ a smaller team to do the same job… Be resolute that the job requires sufficient resources in order to be done properly – and highlight the possibly catastrophic consequences of making short cuts here in particular. Furthermore, make sure the people you’ve got on the job are more than mere heads to be counted: you want top-quality staff on what is after all a vital task with very broad and long-term ramifications.
“Have sufficient quality and quantity of project resources,” recommends Philip King. “Sounds obvious but it’s often the biggest issue – how to get people away from the day job. And of course you need the ‘A team’ for major ERP implementations. Organizations do use external resources – temps, contractors, consultants – but it’s important that a new system is owned by the organization itself. So consider backfilling your own resource to get them on the project as well as hiring additional supplementary resource for the project itself. And once people are on the project make sure they stay there as long as necessary. New systems projects need to be seen as career-enhancing, so it’s key that people moving off the project are looked after, otherwise no one will volunteer for the next one.”
6. Pick the right partners
Your internal resources aren’t going to be the only ones working on this project; the “temps, contractors, consultants” mentioned above are going to play an important role in bringing this project to fruition. Therefore it’s critical that you’re confident you’re working with the right people – and that doesn’t just mean people your team are happy to go out for beers with on Friday evening (although it is obviously important to create comfortable, trusting and mutually respectful relationships – after all, you’ll all be seeing a lot of each other). You need to find partners who can demonstrate the ability to work both with and for you at all stages of the process – while at the same time bringing their expertise to the table at a reasonable cost, of course.
“Ensure you have selected the correct implementation partners,” David Turner recommends. “It is important the software vendor is represented correctly on the project. You will need to get the correct balance between vendor and internal resource. This will help with project ownership and on-going support of the solution.”
7. Meet regularly – and purposefully
Jeopardizing an ERP implementation – or any project, for that matter – because of a lack of communication with the project team is a sin so heinous there’s a special anteroom in Hades set aside for the guilty. Amazingly, though, it does happen. It’s imperative that meetings are regular – and just as imperative that they’re valuable. There might still be some value in meeting for the sake of meeting (ensuring familiarity between team members, providing a forum for debate even if on that particular day there doesn’t seem much to talk about) but it’s immeasurably more valuable to prepare a worthwhile agenda for each meeting and cover every aspect of the project systematically over a series of get-togethers.
“It is important to meet regularly with the project team. The project team will require ongoing support from the business. This will include managing and delivering any business changes and resolving any issues escalated. Managing the completion of each phase of the project and understanding any risks before the next stage/phase starts is important. If significant issues are not resolved correctly, the outcome could be more costly in terms of overrun,” David Turner explains.
8. Remember to allow adequate time for testing
Even during the most favorable of economic climates there’s an understandable pressure on implementation teams to keep timescales as tight as possible. Operating under the current recessionary shadow means that pressure has been turned up to 11 – time is even more money. However, hurrying through an implementation without leaving enough time for testing is effectively mining for fool’s gold, in the sense that the consequences could prove much more costly than the time spent wisely troubleshooting and stress-testing the new system.
“Project management is fixated on the live date; the design and build is behind schedule. What happens? The testing period gets squeezed. It’s important to allow enough time in an ERP implementation for testing – systems, performance, user – in sufficient cycles and with enough time for any rework,” Philip King warns.
9. Focus on data quality
The road to hell may be paved with good intentions, but the byway to ERP hell is definitely paved with dodgy data: it’s impossible to overstate the importance of ensuring that the data to be fed into the new system is as clean as possible, otherwise you’ll end up with the equivalent of trying to fly a fighter jet on crude oil (with, possibly, similar consequences for your hitherto-dazzling career)…
“A new ERP system brings a great opportunity to clean up the old data,” says Philip King. “And the new system will only be as good as the data in it (garbage in, garbage out?). ERP systems in particular rely on the data being right first time to drive the effectiveness of cross-functional processes. So a good tip is to make sure that sufficient time and effort is put into to data cleansing and migration – it’s dirty work but someone has to do it!”
10. Ensure thorough documentation – and review – at handover
When everything is in place and ready for go-live, you and your team might be tempted – and understandably so – to celebrate a job well done. But all your hard work will be for naught if you don’t give the wider organization the necessary understanding of how to keep the system running once implemented. It’s crucial that you document in as much detail as possible the structure of the new system, and instruct the business in how best to operate and maintain it. For one thing, many of those who worked on the implementation will hopefully be moving on to bigger and better things within the company and won’t be on call forever to help with enquiries that new users – or anyone else, for that matter – will undoubtedly have. This is all the more important when considering future needs: when it comes to expanding or extending the system, in the absence of the original implementation team only thorough documentation will serve to avoid deep, deep trouble down the line. It’s also important, for similar reasons – as well as to assess the overall success of the implementation – to have a thorough review of the entire project before those responsible for it go their separate ways.
“When the project is delivered to the business you must ensure you have delivered through the project team (many via internal resource) sufficient knowledge and documentation for the business to manage the daily running of the solution and understanding what can and cannot be changed… The project team will typically deliver the ‘platform for change’. It is typically the responsibility of the business to ensure any necessary business changes are complete that point to benefits in the business case. A post-project review will allow a formal view of the project success against the business case. This review should also include your software vendor,” concludes David Turner.
_______________________________________________________________________
This article was first published on the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) – Read it here: http://www.ssonetwork.com/topic_detail.aspx?id=5474&ekfrm=6&utm_source=ssonetwork.com&utm_medium=SMO&utm_campaign=DIRECTORIES&mac=SSON_External_Listing_2079
About The Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON)
SSON is the largest and most established community of shared services and outsourcing professionals, with over 25,000 members.
SSON provides the roof under which key industry experts and organizations share their experience, knowledge and tools, and practitioner peers connect with other all over the world, both face to face and online.
SSON focuses on developing its members through providing training, tools, and networking opportunities. SSON staff works from international offices in New York, London, Singapore, Sydney, Berlin and Dubai to research current trends and developments in shared services.
More information visit the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) website. Stay up to date with SSON’s latest twitter posts at twitter.com/ssonetwork, connect with global practitioners, providers and advisors on the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) LinkedIn group and Sign up to receive SSON’s weekly updates today
Top Ten Tips for Optimal System Implementation
Top Ten Tips for Optimal System Implementation
Unless you’re the world’s most dedicated Luddite, you’re likely to be pretty enthusiastic about the ability of technology to transform your business for the better. In shared services in particular, IT has an almost magical capacity to improve efficiency and effectiveness – and to do so across wide swathes of the organization, freeing up huge sums to go back into the business and generally improving life no end.
However, before you can attain the Nirvana of process perfection it’s necessary to go through the altogether less enlightened state of actually implementing the technology in the first place. And as many of you can testify, that’s not necessarily just a piece of cake: many’s the gray hair that’s manifested itself as a result of putting a new system in place – only to be torn out at the root during yet another round of “improvements” (i.e., making right all the cock-ups of the initial implementation.)
However, help is at hand. In order to preserve the wits – and hair – of network members looking to put new technology in place, SSON has asked a few experts for their advice on the things that can make the difference between the smoothest implementation and the roughest of rides. So if you’re looking down the barrel of new technology and worried you might be in for a difficult time, fear not: just get stuck straight in to SSON’s Top Ten Tips for Optimal System Implementation…
1. Keep focused
No matter what area of business you’re in, the implementation of a new system opens up whole new galaxies of possibilities – at least, in the minds of those who’re going to be using it. It’s incredible how easily “scope creep” can kick in: you might start off just aiming to centralize and systematize payroll, but once the team gets its heads together and looks at all the possible added extras, within a matter of moments you might be looking at a company-wide HR transformation project (this kind of issue can be particularly problematic with solutions developed in-house where keeping reins on the imaginations of the developers can feel like a full-time role). Remember what your objectives are for this system implementation and stick to your path; if useful doors open up along the way showing new opportunities, all well and good, but make sure you get where you want to go rather than getting lost in wonderland.
“Keep a tight well defined scope,” urges Philip King of Atos Consulting. “This is where most systems implementations founder; don’t try to bite off more that you can chew; start small and extend in later phases if desired; for example in a new HR system many will start with basic data and administration functions before moving into more advanced services.”
2.Optimize from the beginning
The old adage “a stitch in time saves nine” applies just as effectively, if not quite as literally, to systems implementation as it ever did to knitting – especially if you’re designing your own system. Remember how far this system is going to penetrate into your operations, how many people (perhaps across many different business areas) will be using it, and how many other systems it has to interact with in one way or another: it’s up to you as the one in charge of the project to make sure every last ‘t’ is crossed and ‘i’ is dotted in terms of compatibility, flexibility, efficiency, effectiveness, accessibility and a whole lot else. Putting a system in place that then needs constant fiddling and reworking for the next five years to make sure it doesn’t throw obstructions in the way of existing processes is a quick route to deep hot water: you’re not going to get it exactly right at go-live but if you’ve tried to optimize on an end-to-end basis – or as far down towards each end as is realistic – from the beginning, you’ll have done yourself and the system’s operators one massive favor.
“In your design of new systems, you should take into consideration also all aspects of the infrastructure to make the operation of the system smooth and adequate to the user’s expectations after the ending of the project,” says PBI’s CIO, Rafael Carrasco Vidana. “Whether it be a payroll system to pay to 15,000 policemen, an ERP, or a banking system, besides user requirements for the system, careful considerations about availability, security, capacity planning, serviceability, regulations compliance, ITIL disciplines, etc, need to be considered. It is not so strange to see new systems with bottlenecks that prevent customers from receiving the expected service levels. Then optimization begins (things not taken into account before), but additional phases, redesign, resources, upgrades – time and money – have to be added.”
3. Get the buy-in
It’s been said before, and it’ll be said again: whatever the project, getting it running smoothly is a heck of a lot easier if you’ve got support from the movers and shakers towards the pinnacle of your organization. It’s all the more important when it comes to system implementation because of the sheer scope of the transformation which might apply to so many different individual fiefdoms. Even if what you’re doing isn’t the slightest threat to John Doe down the hall in Room 102, he might still get shirty about having to lose “his” staff for a couple of days’ training when he’s already looking like he might miss his quarterly target. Well, watch him wind his neck in when he realizes this project’s got the green light from on high…
“Obtain and maintain sponsorship,” recommends Philip King. “A new system will bring changes to ways of working. It will require budget and sustained allocation of resources. The project may come into conflict with other business priorities. Key decisions will need to be made on timing, scope, resources, and cost. So strong and sustained governance is imperative.”
(For a few handy guidelines on how exactly to ensure that critical sponsorship, why not check out SSON’s own ”Top Ten Tips for Ensuring Buy-In from the Top”)
4. Take time getting the right team for the job
You might have the best people in the world working for you – but right now they’re the best people in the world at doing Task A and, at the very least, this implementation’s going to change that into Task A 1.2, if not Task B. Furthermore, and more importantly, the team you have are going to be running the system you’re implementing – not implementing it themselves, or at least not by themselves. Putting in new technology – especially a big system – requires specifically skilled talent, and it’s almost certain that you’re going to go outside your team, if not outside the company, to get that talent. So put the time in: this implementation team may be temporary but that doesn’t make these folks any less important, or getting the makeup of the team right any less critical. After all: they’re the ones doing the work…
“Employ good people – both staff and consultants – not only technically competent, but people with ambition. Nurture these people!” advises Paul Hopkins of HE-Shared Services Ltd, whose team won a British Computer Society Medal for a transformational system project. “Learn to trust and back your project team. Management set the goal but then trust your team to find the best way of achieving the objective.”
5. Don’t forget your users
OK, so their task’s about to change from A to B – but unless along with your implementation you’re going to effect a wholesale clearing-out of your staff, your current team’s going to be responsible for keeping things going smoothly after the big go-live. So keep them part and parcel of the implementation process (especially if you’re putting in a homegrown system or even an externally provided one which allows for any great degree of flexibility and adaptability). Get as much feedback along the way as is feasible on key factors like ease of use (although do also bear in mind point 6 below…), and also get your team to give their thoughts on, for example, where they think possible bottlenecks might occur and how to avoid them.
“Involve users throughout,” says Philip King. “It’s almost invariably the case that users are asked to support ‘user acceptance testing‘. However often this is the first time they have seen the new system. So all manner of problems can be revealed too late. It’s better to involve the users early; many systems today are pre-configured with standard processes; so users can be involved ‘hands on’ in the design stages.”
6. Beauty is not truth
What a system does, and how it does it, is immeasurably more important than what it looks like while it’s doing it. Some developers spend many thousands of man-hours making sure they’ve got the sexiest-looking kit on the block – which is fine as long as the real time’s gone into ensuring that their kit is number-one operationally as well. If you’ve got something which looks like a pig but runs like a thoroughbred, you’re winning: in this analogy you’re in a race, not a beauty contest. You want another analogy? OK: just as with automobiles, business technology has the ability to entice and delight through looks and feel – but as any true car-lover will agree, if you’re trying to be first away from the lights, what’s beneath the hood is what it’s really all about…
Philip King agrees: “Don’t be seduced by systems functionality or ‘look and feel. I saw a classic example where the user community liked the look of a new workflow system – the screens were easier to use and more modern – and so they persuaded the IT department to implement functionality that was already provided by the core ERP, resulting in an architecture that in the end did not work and led to a worse business process than before the project started. What was implemented was what looked nice rather than what was effective. It all had to be unravelled in the end!
7. The schedule is golden – (but be flexible when you‘re drawing it up…)
Close to the beginning of your project, a rough timeline for all the various steps you need to take to implement this business-saving system is going to have to become a pretty rigid schedule – especially if you’re working on a multiphase behemoth of a project involving teams in multiple locations (and even – gulp – multiple time zones). Now, flexibility is clearly at least one of the keys to success in business – but when it comes to coordinating this big beast of a project your team always needs to be aware that there’s a specific order in which a lot of things need to take place to avoid the kind of problems that’ll have you pulling your hair out – and theirs – down the line. It’s just common-sense project management. At the same time, though, if you’re dealing with something entirely new (for example, a unique in-house system) you’d be foolish not to make allowances for a bit of trial and error when it comes to putting that schedule together in the first place… right?
“Develop flexible but tight plans,” says Paul Hopkins. “Set the goal and the route, but beware detailed planning when things have never been done before. Put all your ‘project slack’ at the END of the project – not at the start!”
8. The budget’s also golden (and black’s better than red)
Similarly to (and very much interconnected with) your schedule, your implementation budget can be a work of great scope and scale, but requires both flexibility within it and adhesion to it by all concerned. There’s no need to look at very-worst-case scenarios (like running out of money altogether) to appreciate the possible pitfalls of not getting the financial planning right. Costs for system implementation don’t stop at the technology acquisition or development stage; in fact, assessing the true cost of implementing even a basic system can be a staggeringly complex and onerous task once all factors are accounted for. Woe betide the implementation head who leaves training or troubleshooting out of his or her calculations, for example, let alone the cost of upgrading, say, a few long-forgotten company laptops that suddenly come out into the arena. The bottom line is always the bottom line – and nothing can put a dent in it like a badly-budgeted large-scale implementation.
“The main reason why so many projects run over-budget is that the budget is not realistic or is too optimistic,” believes Stuart Hearn, director of PlusHR. “New projects are exciting and it can be very tempting to downplay or overlook certain costs in order to gain internal approval. Always add a contingency sum to the budget as projects never run entirely according to plan and some elements will inevitably end up costing more than anticipated, particularly when you are using external suppliers.”
9. Communicate, communicate, communicate…
You can have the best system in the world about to go live – and if nobody knows it’s happening, or what they’re supposed to do when it does, you’re about to be looking for a new job. As with any well-run project, communicating where you are with your implementation to all the various stakeholder groups is crucial to ensure optimal response both during and after the implementation itself. This isn’t just courtesy, obviously: critical issues like training and feedback simply can’t be effected properly without good clear communication (and of course at go-live it would be helpful to avoid having an entire workforce staring slack-jawed at their suddenly-unfamiliar screens because nobody thought to tell them in advance of the big change…).
“Focus on the soft stuff,” advises Philip King firmly. “There is a natural caution about communicating new systems. Sometimes this is warranted because of workers consultations about the impact, or there is a nervousness that questions will be asked that the project team is not yet able to answer. However, the best communication plans will at least be able to say when more detail is available. If you start early and increase the frequency and detail of communications over time, you will have a much better chance of successful acceptance of the new system, and tolerance of any initial bugs. A new system will require all users to change – so it’s essential to analyze the impact, assess training needs, and carry out timely training and education for all affected parties.”
Paul Hopkins agrees: “Communicate all the time – both good and less good news. Staff, suppliers and project team members are intelligent people. Trust them and respect them. A problem shared is a problem halved!”
10. Go all the way
We started by saying “keep focused” – and it’s amazing how quickly that focus can dissipate once the bulk of your implementation is over. Fine, you’ve got in place what you’ve been trying to get in place for the last N days – but that mightn’t actually mean you’ve finished the job. Don’t ever lose track of the fact that although it might not seem thus, implementing this system isn’t your primary task (unless of course you’re a consultant brought in specifically to implement the system in which case: why are you reading this? You know it all already… don’t you?). Your primary task is, to return to one of Rafael Carrasco’s examples, make payroll for 15,000 policemen more efficient and more effective – or centralize accounts receivable, or improve reporting quality, or whatever it is you’re doing that you’ve decided to bring in a new system for. Just because the system is now in place doesn’t mean it’s retirement time (even though it might feel like you deserve it…).
“Ensure your objectives are achieved,” says Stuart Hearn. “Many projects stop once the tasks have been completed or the new systems have been implemented, but before the actual project objectives have been achieved. Go back and look at your reasons for doing the project and the specific objectives that were to be met. Have they all been achieved? If not, then the project is not yet complete.”
________________________________________________________________________
This article was first published on the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) – Read it here: http://www.ssonetwork.com/topic_detail.aspx?id=5088&ekfrm=6&utm_source=ssonetwork.com&utm_medium=SMO&utm_campaign=DIRECTORIES&mac=SSON_External_Listing_2088
About The Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON)
SSON is the largest and most established community of shared services and outsourcing professionals, with over 25,000 members.
SSON provides the roof under which key industry experts and organizations share their experience, knowledge and tools, and practitioner peers connect with other all over the world, both face to face and online.
SSON focuses on developing its members through providing training, tools, and networking opportunities. SSON staff works from international offices in New York, London, Singapore, Sydney, Berlin and Dubai to research current trends and developments in shared services.
More information visit the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) website. Stay up to date with SSON’s latest twitter posts at twitter.com/ssonetwork, connect with global practitioners, providers and advisors on the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) LinkedIn group and Sign up to receive SSON’s weekly updates today
Find More Twitter Tips Articles
Top Ten Tips for Ensuring Buy-In from the Top
Top Ten Tips for Ensuring Buy-In from the Top
No matter how complicated, expansive or arduous the project, one of the biggest challenges facing any transformation program arises near the very beginning: ensuring full buy-in from the top. Many’s the program that’s begun in a rosy glow of optimism only to founder on the rocks of apathy (and occasionally, indeed, antipathy) from the C-suite – especially during tough times when executive attention is often, rightly or wrongly, focused elsewhere.
So how can practitioners ensure they gain – and retain – the support of those whose support matters the most: the C-level movers and shakers upon whose words whole organizations hang? SSON asked some of its members to give their advice on this crucial issue – and you responded with gusto. So now we’re proud to present our Top Ten Tips for Ensuring Buy-In from the Top (and feel free to email us your own ideas – the more tips the merrier!).
1. Present a complete, compelling business case
OK, so it sounds obvious – but going to the top with anything less than a complete, finely detailed business case is the easiest recipe for rejection. The ladies and gentlemen who can green- or red-light your project will want to see exactly (down to the nearest cent) how much your project will save the organization, and why. Any holes in the fabric of your tale and you’ll be out on your ear – and make sure the numbers are sufficiently compelling to excite them in the first place. Savings of 0.0001% won’t justify a multi-million-dollar investment if savings are the aim of the game. Save 10%, however, and you’ll have EVERYONE’s attention.
Shared services head Pedro Ruao highlights the importance of going beyond cost-savings with as comprehensive as possible a business case: “Ensure your business case covers all aspects. Cost-reduction programs, despite the economy, are not the be-all-and-end-all. The board wants to know about service provision, flexibility, retained staff morale, and so on, so the C-suite must present them hard facts on those metrics along with percentage savings.”
2. Create a sense of urgency
You want to transform your organization – but you might be up against numerous other pitches all looking for investment capital, so what makes your particular proposal so “now”? Why can’t the board put your pitch on the back-burner – especially when discretionary funds are so scarce worldwide? You need to demonstrate exactly why your program can’t wait
“Prior to discussing your business case, you must establish a “burning platform” for your project,” explains CentrePoint Energy‘s Julienne Sugarek. “This should be a three-to-five-minute elevator pitch, backed up with data, that details what could go wrong if the problem is not solved now. In creating your talking points, think about your audience. What is important to them right now? How does your project address those concerns? Create a sense of urgency for your executive team, but be careful not to be overly dramatic with your message.”
3. Understand your organization’s internal processes
‘Going through proper channels’ might elicit a sigh of dread amongst many, but there’s no point jeopardizing what could be a business-saving (and career-making) transformation by rushing headlong to the C-suite without ticking all the necessary procedural boxes, no matter how inane you might find the bureaucracy. If someone’s gone to the effort to draw up a form for you to fill in to move your proposal up the ladder, it’s because they really, really want that form filled in – and as that someone might be on the panel you’re pitching to, why lose a friend before you get through the door?
“Make sure you understand fully any internal formal control processes for approving such programmes,” advises independent shared services specialist Jim Whitworth. “If such processes exist, you’ll need to fulfill the requirements completely (including any form-filling) as you seek buy-in. You will still need to ensure you have C-suite buy-in through personal presentation, etc, but to do so without completing the prescribed processes will waste time and may alienate the very people you need on-side. Just completing the formal processes and not courting the C-suite is insufficient. Do both.”
4. Be open and honest about previous – and current – endeavors
Both at the initial stages and – once given the go-ahead – throughout the program, it’s vital to avoid obfuscation and general fudgery when looking at the work you’ve done. You’re asking these guys to trust you and your team with often vast sums of money – so don’t try to pull the wool over their eyes in return, if they’re asking about what might be seen as shortcomings. They haven’t got where they are by falling for every yarn they’ve been spun, y‘know…
“Discuss openly the mistakes made and share examples,” cautions ANZ‘s Director of Operations Ravichandran Venkataraman. “Share also details of what you have done to rectify these mistakes and ensure that your team has learned from them and do not repeat them to a large extent. Not everything will go well in an operation. So, set that expectation, discuss mistakes openly and let business know that you have taken them seriously and put in place corrective actions.”
5. Keep company staff in the project
It’s easy to underestimate how cautious many senior figures are about handing over important projects to external advisors – so allay some of those fears by keeping a good number of the company’s own employees involved in the project at all levels, even if ensuring you do so leads to a certain degree of friction with the advisory partner. After all, it’s YOUR program…
“Include inside talent in the project management team,” Pedro Ruao confirms. “Many organizations still distrust consultants, regardless of how recognized or how niche they may be. Their contribution is to bring in the methodology and the manpower, but it must be clear to everyone that the steering is from strong individual(s) from within the organization – even when it isn’t…”
6. Keep a tight focus…
You might be trying to save the organization (or at least better equip it for the task at hand) but you’re not trying to save the world – so don’t waste your time or your company’s cash by trying to tackling too much at once, or too soon. Keep your project’s aims focused and drive hard with all your resources towards those aims, rather than spreading precious capital too thinly across multiple ambitions. There’s no point risking project failure now for the sake of things that can be done in a year or two.
“Be focused on two or three goals, be realistic, be committed,” advise Calvin Yee and Hugh coppen of Accompli Group in their paper ‘Disruption and Crisis: an Action Plan for Leaders’. “The intensity of the leader’s focus determines how well the organization stays focused on survival. Disciplined focus on realities and business basics minimizes ‘mission creep’ – when unproductive resource utilization starts to be tolerated again. The leader’s role is to be clear on goals, be realistic about strategies and be intently dedicated to implementing plans. More so than ever, adversity demands smart, hard-nosed, risk assessment that is always fully aligned with current business realities. Given scarce resources, focus on achieving fewer goals as opposed to failing in many areas.”
7. …But at the same time, be bold
That said, that doesn’t mean you should keep your program small and inoffensive just so as not to make waves. If you’ve got big, complicated goals, that’s fine – as long as you keep focused on them and they’re worthwhile to begin with. Often the low-hanging fruit aren’t the juiciest or the ripest – and time spent picking them can mean you miss the more important harvest of the good stuff that’s harder to reach.
Stephen Smith, General Manager at Diageo’s shared service center in Budapest, says it‘s important to aim high: “Don’t fall into the ’small and simple’ trap. There’s a temptation to do the stuff that’s perceived as ‘easy’ (e.g., T&E or PTP) before moving onto more complex activities. Similarly there’ll be pressure to start with the small business units first. These approaches tend to kill the business case, mire you in a change program that you’ve under-estimated the difficulty of and give the larger business units a great reason to resist going anywhere near the transformation program for many years. The C-suite won’t thank you for being timid.”
8. Give – and learn from – examples from beyond the organization
Fear of the unknown’s a common human trait – and believe it or not those big beasts at the top are indeed human – so work to alleviate this issue by demonstrating how the kind of transformation you’re proposing has worked in the past, for other organizations (especially your competitors…). If you can demonstrate from actual experience how successful the transformation has been for others (not to mention how you can learn from the mistakes of your peers, if you have access to that sort of knowledge) you’re much more likely to get the go-ahead yourself.
“You are probably totally focused on how the proposed program will bring beneficial change within the organization,” says Jim Whitworth. “The C-suite has to manage the bigger picture of how the company sits in the outside world. So, remember to provide plenty of reference to the actions of peer companies, external benchmarking, precedents and success stories. If the program or its potential impact could be visible externally, the C-suite will want to be comfortable that it will be viewed positively by peers and commentators outside the business.”
9. Demonstrate your awareness of risk
You might have found the perfect project which poses absolutely no risk whatsoever to your company – but it’s unlikely outside the world of dreams (and if you’re dreaming of transformation projects… time for a vacation?). In the real world the people you’re pitching to want to be sure that you’re prepared for every eventuality, even the infamous “unknown unknowns”. Go into minute detail about what levels of risk you’re facing in all aspects of the project: if you’re asked a question about a risk, however unlikely, you need to be sure you can answer it fully – or you have someone alongside you who can. And it’s not just about understanding the risks: you need to work actively and constantly to keep them down to an acceptable (as defined by above) minimum.
“Have sound risk practices that minimize risk related to operations, fraud, collections and business continuity,” urges Ravichandran Venkataraman. “Have in place practices that address appropriately country risk, transaction risk, process risk, financial risk, fraud risk, reputation risk and business continuity risk. Business needs to be confident that you have adequate processes in place, and sound practices and people that can de-risk their businesses to a large extent.”
10. Highlight the compliance benefits
Alongside organizational risk is an altogether murkier and even less comfortable topic: the personal risk faced by anyone at or close to the top of an organization in today’s age of compliance. Nobody wants to see their career (or even their liberty) brought to an abrupt end by an inability to comply with business legislation – especially the dreaded Sarbanes-Oxley Act. High-fliers the world over live in fear of being brought down to earth with a bump by the actions of someone working for them; if you can demonstrate the compliance benefits of what you’re doing, you appeal directly to your superiors’ sense of self-preservation as well as to any number of perhaps more laudable characteristics – and of course compliance is good for the whole as well as for the parts, so you’re doing the whole business a favor, as well as those at its helm.
“Pull your SOX up,” Stephen Smith advises. “Sarbanes-Oxley is even more relevant in today’s straitened economic environment. The single undeniable benefit of transformation is lowering the likelihood of landing the C-suite in the court room. It’s amazing what a powerful incentive that is!”
_________________________________________________________________________
This article was first published on the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) – Read it here: http://www.ssonetwork.com/topic_detail.aspx?id=4726&ekfrm=6&utm_source=ssonetwork.com&utm_medium=SMO&utm_campaign=DIRECTORIES&mac=SSON_External_Listing_2092
About The Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON)
SSON is the largest and most established community of shared services and outsourcing professionals, with over 25,000 members.
SSON provides the roof under which key industry experts and organizations share their experience, knowledge and tools, and practitioner peers connect with other all over the world, both face to face and online.
SSON focuses on developing its members through providing training, tools, and networking opportunities. SSON staff works from international offices in New York, London, Singapore, Sydney, Berlin and Dubai to research current trends and developments in shared services.
More information visit the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) website. Stay up to date with SSON’s latest twitter posts at twitter.com/ssonetwork, connect with global practitioners, providers and advisors on the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) LinkedIn group and Sign up to receive SSON’s weekly updates today
Top Tips For More Ecommerce Website Sales
Top Tips For More Ecommerce Website Sales
Here are some top tips to make sure that you are getting the most from your website:
Competitor research
Regularly check out what your competitors are up to with regards to special offers and the products they are offering. By checking your competitors you can also compare prices to make sure that you are competitively priced at all times.
Also take the opportunity to see how your competitors are ranking within the search engines result compared to yourself. If you are ranking a lot lower then you could be missing out on traffic so it would be a good idea to consult an SEO company specialising in improving your positioning on the search engines.
Pay Per Click Campaign
If you haven’t done this yet Pay Per Click is a great way to achieve new levels of traffic to your website. The most important thing is that the traffic is well targeted because you get to choose the keywords which you feel best suit your website and its products.
The search engines that offer this service are currently Google and Bing. Your adverts will appear in the sponsored section of the search engine results page which can attract high volumes of traffic, all of which are users who specifically searched for your key terms.
You can easily cap the budget of how much you would like to spend by limiting your spend to daily. This way you will not exceed your budget and be in complete control. For many it could be a good idea to employ the services of an SEO company who will be able to take over the management of your Pay Per Click campaign and keep it at a manageable level cost wise.
Get Your Website Linked To A Price Comparison Website
Price comparison websites achieve high levels of traffic from consumers looking to get the best prices available. The main price comparison websites are Ciao and Shopzilla. In a competitive marketplace it is a very good idea to link your website up to one of these, it will help you to achieve more click through’s especially if you are the lowest price for a certain product.
By doing this you can also see how your prices compare against your competitors and what you can do to make yourself more competitive.
Consult An SEO Expert
If you feel your website is underperforming and not achieving the levels of visitors it could be or not ranking highly enough within the search engines then consulting an SEO expert could just be the answer.
An SEO expert will review your website thoroughly and make recommendations on the following:
On Page optimisation – Keywords, page titles and page descriptions
Links – How many inward links your website has
Design – Is the design right for your market
From this they will be able to recommend a suitable campaign designed to help your website which will cover some of the following:
Link building
Social bookmarking
Press releases
Article releases
Sitemap submission
Website analytics
Keyword research
Social media marketing
Competitor research
Consulting an SEO expert can dramatically increase traffic and sales so is well recommended, try and stay away from SEO companies who guarantee top of the search engines in no time as in SEO terms there are no guarantees just hard work.
Use Social Media
Social media is a great way for you to connect to your customers. By using applications such as Twitter and Facebook you can drive your company message across to existing customers and potential new ones.
Social media helps to spawn an idea out to thousands of people if used correctly. Setting up a Facebook business page and loading it with images and content not only attracts fans but it also gets indexed by Google so will rank within the search engines.
Twitter is great for micro blogs containing links to your website, this helps you to gain access to many people who are within your market place and also interested in your products.
Social media can also help you to understand what is new in your trade such as exciting new products and offers.
By following these simple tips you can increase the performance of your website and the sales of your products.
10 Top Tips To Targeted Traffic
10 Top Tips To Targeted Traffic
Traffic. The lifeblood of your online business as without it your business will surely die.
A harrowing thought but all too true. This must be the biggest problem facing Internet marketers, but is the same for normal marketing in the “real” world. Without customers there is no money and therefore no business.
So how can you get traffic/potential customers to your website? What is the big secret? Unfortunately there is no magic wand to wave or spell to mix; it’s just a combination of knowing what to do and how to do it.
Here are some top tips you MUST be doing to get that coveted Google first page ranking.
Know your target market
First you must understand to whom you are marketing to. Research whatever niche you are in to find out what in particular your market is interested in. Try to keep your website interesting, relevant and up-to-date as this will keep your target market coming back time and time again.
Write Articles
A good article will help to promote your website and can have quality traffic queuing up to get in. There are hundreds of sites that you can submit your articles to, but concentrate your efforts on the popular directories such as EzineArticles and Go Articles. EzineArticles still seems to carry more weight as the place to publish your articles and will allow you two links back to your website by using the resource box. Remember to use a killer headline to attract your readers and don’t make it a sales pitch as you may well be declined.
Do Follow Links
There are a million and one ways to get backlinks to your website, but you only need to concentrate on the ones that bring you the most “link juice”. Highly relevant backlinks to your website along with high page ranks can boost your ranking in the search engines which will help drive targeted traffic to your website. The best ways of getting these high PR links back to your website is to comment in forums and blogs and leaving a link in your signature or bio box. Look for very active blogs in your niche with the “Top Commentator” plug-in as this is a “do-follow” link. This means that you will get that all-important “link juice” back to your site. And the great thing about this is, if the blog has over a thousand pages, you will instantly get a thousand backlinks if you make the top commentator list.
Build you list
Setup a quick “squeeze page” with a sign-up form near the top and invite your visitors to download a free eBook in exchange for their name and email address. As your list grows you will open up many opportunities to promote new products you are selling. Just remember to not start selling straight away. Build a relationship first and gently nurture your list with amazing free offers.
On Page SEO
Probably the easiest to control and do, but more often than not. Be methodical in your approach to on-page seo and concentrate fully on the fundamentals. By this I mean carry out precise keyword research for your business niche and try to find a gap in your market that is not saturated with huge competition. When you have found your winning keywords they need to be properly used as you build you web pages. Simply adding them to the meta description tag and flinging hundreds of combinations in the Keyword area will no longer cut it.
Try to make sure you include at least one of your keywords in your domain name as Google especially gives higher rankings, as it will be deemed highly relevant to their search robots. Also include your main keyword in the title of your page, the H1 tags and two or three times in the body copy of your page. And more importantly, make sure you place a link on your keyword to another page within your website.
Video Optimisation
Or VO for short, is becoming one of the best ways to get quality backlinks to your website, as video is being used more and more, especially on sites like You Tube. You need to post a video of yourself talking about your business and using you main keywords as you speak. Did you know that Google can now recognise what is being said and will rank you higher for saying your keywords. Clever eh?
If your video is using your keywords correctly you will soon rank on Google’s coveted Page 1 in no time. Check out the video results when typing in keywords, such as “how to make bread” for example. The videos you see are amateur with hardly any backlinks, but are on the first page of results. Incredibly easy. You can be here too with very little work.
Community Sites
Look for large community driven websites that allow you to enter your url links and RSS feeds. These will fuel your website with high authority link juice for very little work. Just be sure to post the odd comment or two every week.
Social Networking Sites
Join Facebook, Digg, Bebo and Twitter to name but a few. If your website is built using Wordpress then you are at a major advantage as there are some great plugins that will automatically send your latest posts to these sites for maximum exposure. You will be surprised at how many people will start to follow you on Twitter when you do this.
Ping your RSS Feed
There are several websites that will accept your RSS feed and automatically ping it to hundreds of different sites. Build your website using Wordpress and your feed will automatically be generated. Also encourage visitors to your site to subscribe to your feed. They will then be instantly updated when you post a new article.
Google Groups
This is both free and drives highly targeted traffic to your website. Join Google Groups and find the subject closest to what you are promoting or most related to your website content. Join the discussion groups and where appropriate direct them to your website link.
This list is just the tip of the iceberg and for a beginner, it can be very daunting to say the least. As a newcomer you need to be able to focus on one idea and not be side tracked by the hundreds of methods that are floating around on the web.
Search Engine Ranking Tips – How to Get Your Tweets Ranked
Search Engine Ranking Tips – How to Get Your Tweets Ranked
In the past, there were very few instances in which you would stumble upon real-time search in action, maybe some news-related inquiries.
The new Search Engine Results Page (SERP) interface makes real-time search a part of ANY given search, which makes it a much bigger deal for your search engine ranking traffic generation.
Your social media interactions have just become even more important.
Google and other search engines are now indexing tweets and other status updates from networks like Facebook and Myspace.
So what are their criteria for search engine ranking of tweets?
1. Reputation and popularity.
Turns out that Google does not judge you by HOW MANY followers you have, but by how REPUTABLE those followers are.
In that respect, driving traffic from Google’s real-time search engine ranking is very similar to its page ranking.
It’s all about the links. More precisely, it’s all about the QUALITY of the links.
So essentially, Google ranks tweets using a variation of its page-ranking algorithm. The more reputable links you have going to your content, the higher it ranks in Google.
Similarly, having followers with authority theoretically helps your tweets rank higher in Google real-time search and thus increase your search engine ranking traffic generation.
However, this is not the only factor.
2. Use of hashtags.
If you are big fan of hashtags and you would like to generate traffic from Google real-time search, stop using them.
That’s a big red flag for lower quality tweets.
Trending topics on Twitter tend to be measured largely by tag popularity and tend to also attract tons of junk tweets.
Thus, use of hashtags can negatively reflect upon your real-time search engine ranking.
3. Nothing is cut in stone.
Keywords: tweets loaded with keywords on the front end, as well links with keywords, may outrank tweets without them.
Recency: will Google pay more attention to accounts with more activity?
User name: keywords in your user name might also help.
Age: since age plays a big role in Google search engine ranking, it’s possible that more established Twitter accounts will outrank the newer ones.
External links: links to @YourNetBizCafe from (reputable) non-social media sites should boost my reputation as far as Google is concerned.
Tweet Quantity: although the emphasis is on quality and popularity, the quantity may still matter. Makes sense: the more you tweet, the better chance you’ve got to be seen in Google real-time search results.
Ratios of followed vs follow: may be compared to reciprocal linking. There is not as much value in being followed just because you follow someone; Google might question your true popularity, so a close ratio between the two can raise a red flag.
Lists: it might also matter in how many lists you appear.
Let me touch very quickly on how Bing ranks tweets.
What it seems to come down to is the number of followers. If someone has a lot of followers, his/her tweets will get ranked higher. If a tweet is exactly the same as other tweets, it will get ranked lower. As simple as that (or maybe too simple).
Wrapping Up.
It’s not like Google is about to reveal to us how they REALLY rank the tweets. Plus, real-time search goes far beyond just tweets.
Still Twitter is a big player, and if we want to bring more traffic to our sites via real-time search, we’d better start paying closer attention to our social media standing.
Related Twitter Tips Articles
Make Your Own Videos – Easy DIY Tips For Small Businesses
Make Your Own Videos – Easy DIY Tips For Small Businesses
So, you’re an entrepreneur who’s decided to start making your own online videos in order to boost your marketing and social media efforts.
To get the best results, you’ll want to follow a plan that takes you from pre-production to shooting and editing to online distribution. Here are some simple steps that can guide you in that process:
Strategy
Concept
Imagine you’re giving a presentation to your ideal clients. What unique, valuable information can you provide? What do they need and want to hear? Now imagine the camera is your audience and you only have two minutes to talk. Keep it brief, focused and valuable.
Examples of good concepts – giving tips in your area of expertise, demonstrating your product or service, describing an event or workshop you’re leading.
Example of not-so-great concepts – video blogging about your wide array of thoughts and philosophies with no clear focus or outcome for the client.
Script
Don’t wing it. Have an outline or script prepared so that your video is a focused, polished presentation of the most valuable information.
You don’t need to memorize every word. However, do rehearse (in front of a mirror is very helpful) so that your performance comes across as confident and natural.
Keep it short. Web attention spans are very short.
Some general length guidelines:
Ads or business profiles – 30 sec – 1 min
Demonstrations – 1-3 min
Webisodes or presentations – 2-4 min
Basic equipment
Camera (keep it simple and easy for you to use):
Flip camera – you can upload right to YouTube.
Macbook – built in camera and you can use iMovie.
Any basic consumer camera that you already have – they’ll come with uploading instructions and possibly some basic editing software.
Video cameras that record to memory cards are great – no dealing with buying multiple tapes and converting them.
Audio:
Use your camera or Mac’s built-in mic.
If you’re having problems with audio quality using just the camera’s built-in mic, and you have an external mic jack, then you can consider buying a mic to plug in. Check for inexpensive options on Amazon.
Tripod:
You just need the camera off the ground and level with your eyeline. If you can achieve that with a counter or books on a table, more power to you!
If not, purchase an inexpensive tripod – go to Best Buy or any store that sells cameras.
Lighting – At the DIY level, this helps increase quality more than the type of camera you use.
Find a spot in your home, office or outside (if noise is not a problem) where your face is well lit in an even and soft manner. No harsh shadows.
If you need more light, use some standing reading lamps and move them closer to you (not in the shot but between you and the camera).
If that’s still not working, then you need to buy a light, especially if it’s a wider shot or the camera is further away.
If necessary – buy a basic continuous lighting kit on Amazon for .
Do a Google search for “lighting tutorial” to get additional setup tips.
Production - keep your production simple and focused on offering great information or inspiration.
Dress as you would if you were having a meeting or giving a presentation to your ideal client. In the majority of cases, you’ll want to look well-groomed, neat and professional. Stay away from wearing bright or distracting patterns, but feel free to wear color (“jewel” tones are usually best – think rubies, emeralds, etc.).
Speak confidently and let your personality shine through.
Look into the camera and imagine the audience that you’re talking to.
Set up your set with bright, natural lighting with an uncluttered background.
Stay fairly close to the camera (about 2-3 feet away) for a medium shot that is optimal for image and audio quality.
Editing
To cut down on editing time, try to plan and execute videos in one take, or tape different clips and then put them together.
Use simple software such as iMovie(.mov format, free with Mac) or Movie Maker (.avi format, free with Windows).
Online distribution
Set up an account on YouTube.com. Fill out your profile and subscribe to other channels that match your marketing goals.
Upload your video and make sure to include a relevant, interesting title, description and keywords.
Embed the video on your website and/or blog.
Share it on:Facebook, Twitter, your e-newsletter.
These are the basic steps to follow to make the most out of online video on the DIY level. Check out these examples of small business videos to inspire you in your efforts. And, remember to have fun!
Melissa Mansfield is the co-founder of Green Gorilla Media, a San Francisco-based production company that helps its clients use online video to build brand recognition and meaningful customer relationships.
As a producer at Green Gorilla, Melissa guides clients through every step of the video production process, including social media strategy, concept development, scriptwriting, production and post-production.
To find out how Green Gorilla Media can help you boost your social media and marketing efforts with online video, visit http://www.greengorillamedia.com.
You can also follow Green Gorilla Media on Twitter: @greengorillas.
Follow us on Twitter!Categories
- Banner Web Advertising
- Creative Web Advertising
- Effective Web Advertising
- Featured
- Free Web Advertising
- Get More Twitter Followers
- How to Use Twitter
- Local Web Advertising
- Pay Per Click Web Advertising
- Targeted Web Advertising
- Twitter 101
- Twitter Applications
- Twitter Apps
- Twitter for Business
- Twitter Hashtags
- Twitter Marketing
- Twitter Software
- Twitter Tips
- Twitter Tools
- Twitter Users
- Twitter Web Advertising
Views
- Gaining Targeted Traffic Thru Forum Participation - 12,834 views
- Haiti Earthquake Twitter - 4,854 views
- Online Advertising with Blogs or Websites? - 3,139 views
- Social Networking Sites - 3,096 views
- 1: Cheapest Nokia N900 - 3,027 views
- Micro-Blogging Services - 2,674 views
- Samsung S7070 Diva – For The Diva In You - 2,320 views
- Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Marketing: Bring More Traffic to Your Website With PPC Advertising - 2,187 views
- Twitter Social Media Revolution - 1,648 views
- Billboard Advertising - 1,517 views
Recent Comments
- Hipolito M. Wiseman on How an Online Advertisement Agency is More Feasible?
- Anisa Redhouse on Twitter For Business
- LED TV on Why You Should Not Use Free Web Hosting
- best knife sharpeners on Cheap Business Advertising Methods Do This And Stomp Your Competition
- Flossie Beachell on What Makes a Good Church Web Design?