SmallBizBlog

Gamification

2010-11-23T19:26:00.000-08:00

According to Seth Priebatsch, CEO and founder of SCVNGR, companies need to start playing games with their customers – yes, he is serious. Priebatsch is one of the new breed of visionary entrepreneurs who are espousing the advent of the “game layer” that will (or so they say) be added to many of our day-to-day activities, engaging average Janes and Joes like you and me through “game mechanics” that will inspire us to buy and interact more while earning points, badges and levels that ultimately translate into discounts, freebies and other advantages for us. Initial evidence of the effectiveness of the application of a game layer seem to sound out what he is saying for the early adopters. But “gamification” goes further than simple e-commerce, for which it must be said, it is ultimately suited. Its concepts can be extended to invigorate education, customer relations and even employee interactions.

It has been the popularity of social media hat has enabled people to start thinking about adding game mechanics to online marketing efforts simply because game mechanics work best in a community setting. As people get used to “tweeting” and updating their profiles and networking online, they grow ever more accustomed to being able to compare themselves with others. From your number of friends on Facebook to your the number of connections you have on Linked In, you can't help but compare yourself to others. In a subtle way, these scores are the rudimentary beginnings of game play being introduced to us through social media. After all, games are all about competition and achievement, both of which require comparison; the first to other player and the second to benchmarks.

According to experts like Priebatsch and others like Jesse Schell and Gabe Zichermann, the next decade will see companies rushing to add game layers to their activities in much the same way that the last decade saw everyone getting social online. The thinking is “okay, we are all connected … now what?” People are expecting more and more from their online experiences and with some lateral thinking and a little elbow grease, it doesn't take much to add a simple game layer to almost any online interaction. As Gabe Zichermann states in his book “Game-Based Marketing” (co-written with Joselin Linder, John Wiley and Sons, 2010) the most effective game-based campaigns in business have been the frequent flyer programs instituted by the airlines. Beyond that, there have been a few attempts to gamify relationships and transactions but none have been as effective. Sure, things like contests, raffles and even the ever-popular “happy hour” are all based on game mechanics, but they are simplistic applications of the concept at best.

With a new slew of game-based marketing websites like Seth Priebatsch's SCVNGR, Foursquare and Gowalla, there seems to be a number of people willing to test the water, put their money where their collective mouths are and see if this idea has legs – and the proof will be in the pudding. Idioms aside, many maintain that “gamification”, the “game layer” and “funware” are buzz words, just like “web 2.0” and “cloud computing”. However, both of the latter concepts are now integral parts of the online universe and I surmise that gamification will follow suit. As long as those who adopt gamification, realise that a game layer must be secondary to quality, performance and service – and not a replacement of those things – games will have an increasing part to play in what we do and how we do it.

Whine of the Month: Locked-in Contracts for Services

2010-09-26T20:28:00.001-07:00

I joined a gym a few years ago, signing up at one of the popular chain gyms (with an astronomical name) that pepper suburbia. Knowing that I am not one who often sees things through, I was careful to ask whether or not I would could get out of the contract I was signing for three years. The excited consultant and the manager authorising my registration assured me that although I couldn't terminate the contract, they would help me find someone to take over my contract – something that was as good as being able to terminate the contract, I was told. Being naïve and overwhelmed by the paperwork and sales pitch, I signed up. To be honest, I thought that the assurance given by the sales people was a little fishy and I half expected that I wouldn't be able to get out of the contract – because it is a contract and we are in South Africa. So when the time came to try my luck, I emailed them to find out what I could do to find someone to take over my contract. I received no answer. I emailed three more times. Still nothing. I then phoned them many, many times and eventually got to speak to the person handling these matters. I had to endure a conversation with the most unfriendly person I have had the misfortune of conversing with (obviously her job really sucked as she had to deal with irate customers who had been promised things that would never come to pass). Even talking to people at SARS is more pleasant. Obviously, I got no help from her. After all, I am just a customer. So I write my complaint on hellopeter.com – and lo and behold! A response – within hours of posting my moan. Helping me find someone to take over the contract is not part of their service, I am told and I am fully liable for the due amount. However, they said I could settle the amount immediately, and save … almost nothing in so doing. And if you look at hellopeter.com, you will find that I was far from being the only person duped in this way by this gym chain, and most probably by others.

Now, the horrendous service aside, I am stunned that in this day and age, some companies still require people to sign lengthy contract for membership services that they cannot get out of. It is ludicrous. I can understand locking people into a contract for the purchase or use of physical objects or to repay an amount for a service already completed, but for something like a membership ... come on! It is just one more way that some South African businesses strong-arm the public into paying for things they don't want. What happened to “the customer is king”. These companies should rely on good service delivery to keep customers, not on the the threat of blacklisting (another ludicrous scam, but that is a whine for another time). Needless to say, I have told everyone I could to about the cosmic gym that I am still a member of and made sure that I deprive them of as many customers as possible.

Website Design Checklist: Part Two

2010-09-15T09:15:00.001-07:00

In the next exciting instalment of my article, I deal with a few more “dos” and “don'ts” for those intent on designing their own website. Why would this be important if you are not a website designer? Well, firstly, even if you are employing someone to design your site for you, it's a good idea to know what they should be (or shouldn't be) doing. Secondly, if you like doing things yourself and want to build your own website using a website builder (like the fantastic EZBIZsa – www.ezbizsa.com – plug!), then it's best if you don't make your site look like a canine's first meal of the day. And finally, it's always good to learn new things.
With that out of the way, on with the list;

6. Where's the menu? Menus are essential elements of a website (the menu is the group of buttons on the site that enables the visitor to access the pages of the site) and should be clearly visible and logically laid out. It is less important who cool they look, although some nice roll-over effects seldom go amiss. The menu may be split into two parts, but watch out for splitting it into more. If you have chunks of menu all over the place, navigation gets difficult.
If you only have a few pages on your site, it is a good idea to use a horizontal menu above or below your site branding (logo and company name). Horizontal menus are nice because they are easy to find and read. If you have many links and want to split your menu, use the main buttons in a horizontal menu and the less important ones in a vertical side menu. You can also, of course, just use a horizontal menu – there is no right or wrong way to do it.
Make sure that the menu text is large enough to be clear and position the home button on the left-hand side on a vertical menu or at the top of the menu if it is a vertical menu. Many sites repeat the most important buttons in the footer (the bottom area of the web page) of their site.
As for using Flash or Javascript menus, although there are voices for and against both, I would suggest staying away from them just in case.

7. Big head or not? The header (the area at the top of your website that contains your logo and/or company name) is of supreme importance. Make sure it contains your website name, a subtitle (your slogan or pay-off line of something else memorable) and your logo, if you have one. The header (also called the branding) is used to create a look and feel for the site and has a great effect on how visitors respond to a site. It does not need to be big, however, and can be clean and no-nonsense, if the rest of the site follows suit.

8. Title. Every website must have a title, which is displayed in the top, left-hand corner of the browser's “chrome” (the silver border around the window). The title is entered as a tag in the HTML meta block at the head of the page. The title not only makes the site easy to view but is also important for being found by search engines.

9. Colour complement. We have spoken about colour contrast in the first part of this article-thingy, however I would just like to touch on colour selection itself. When building a site, it's a good idea to include your corporate colours if you can but make sure that the big blocks of colour compliment one another. There are sites on the Internet that show different groups of complimentary colours. It is also good to go for a balance of dark and light shades. I usually use a palette of about two or three shades of two or three colours. This includes colours for links, menu buttons and other text elements as well.
White is a colour too and there is nothing wrong with using it, especially behind text. Most professionally-designed websites still use dark text on a white background.

10. Text links. Links (the text that you click on to jump to another website or web page) should be clearly visible, either by being bold, underlined or a colour different from the body text, or a combination of these. If possible, they should also change slightly when the mouse is placed over them. I would suggest not making links a bigger font size than the surrounding text.

Website design can be a rewarding experience, especially if you are a creative type and can design most of the image elements yourself. But even the pros can make a hash of things by going overboard so it's good to remember that less is often more.

New Touchscreen Technology

2010-09-12T01:45:00.000-07:00

Below is a short video featuring Jeff Han showing off a touchscreen interface he has been working on. Looks fantastic!

Website Design Checklist: Part One

2010-09-05T19:30:00.000-07:00

So you are designing a website. To design a decent-looking website, there are a few things you should try to do from a design point-of-view to make your website look at least competently designed. These tips should allow you to help make your website easy to read and enjoyable for your visitors, especially if you are a novice or DIY-ing it (using a website builder like the fantabulous www.ezbizsa.com, for example – plug!). And creating a pleasant viewing experience for your website visitor is what it's all about.

Let's take a look at the first few points;

1. Size matters. Use decent-sized text. Rather use larger font sizes than smaller if you are not sure. Small font sizes make text look “squashed”, they make the site look “busy” and they are difficult to read for those with failing eyesight.

2. Space. Although one would think that leaving a lot of space unused on a web page would be a waste, the truth is that space is soothing and easy on the eye, allowing viewers to pick out what they want to look at rather than having to concentrate on finding what they want to look at amidst a jumble of text blocks and images. You don't want to leave too much space but padding the text and image elements on your page so that there is a thumb-width of space between them will do the world of good.

3. Top-left to bottom-right. In the (Wild Wild) West we are taught to read from left to right and from the top of the page to the bottom. So it stands to reason that when viewing a web page, we would start at the top-left of the page and read horizontally moving down the page with each successive pass. Consequently, it is important to place the most important information that you want to convey to your website visitor in that top-left region; the name of your company, important news etc.

4. Flashing lights. Animations are cool when used in the right place but placing a moving image on your site might do more harm than good if it is not appropriate because the viewer's eyes are drawn to that animation rather than to the content of your site. If you have something you want every visitor to see right off the bat, use a single, prominent animation to draw their attention. And whatever you do, stay away from gaudy flashing lights. This is also something to consider when sticking advertising banners or buttons on your site. They can be overwhelming is there are too many and if they are, many visitors will just leave or will click on them without even looking at your page.

5. Contrast. Use colours that stand out against one another. Black text on a white (or very light) background is always good. You have no idea how many people try to get creative and design blocks of text that are difficult to read because the colour contrast between the text and background colour is just not what it should be. To be safe, use very light backgrounds and very dark text. Also, white text on a black background can work if there is limited amounts of it, but I wouldn't want to read an article like that.
Another point to remember is that if you are using an image or image tile behind your text, make sure it is subtle and also provides high contrast with the text. Many people think it would be cool to slap an image behind their text and end up making the text over it difficult to read.

That's it for now. Fear not, kind reader, for I will get to the next set of points in my next article.

Where's the Goodwill?

2010-08-24T20:27:00.001-07:00

I am not talking about the Zulu king here. I am talking about the infectious pride that swept our country only two months ago before and during the World Cup. Sure, the vuvuzelas were annoying and for non-soccer fans it became a little tedious, but the spirit that filled the country to its very brim – and I am not talking about the booze - was amazing. The people of South Africa showed just how warm, friendly and passionate we could be.

Then the party was over and now it's back to business as usual? The political squabbles, the strikes, the crime. Did the World Cup do nothing for us, except perhaps leaving us with a whole lot of brand-new, seldom-to-be-used stadiums and the Gautrain? It's like watching drunks in a punch up who stop their fracas for a few moments to watch a pretty girl walk past. They even manage to smile and put their arms around one another's shoulders, their rivalries and black eyes forgotten momentarily. But as soon as she turns the corner and disappears, they go back to whacking the stuffing out of one another. Is this how it is to be?
Just thinking.

Website Design: Vertical or Horizontal Menu

2010-08-17T06:26:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking about some fundamentals of website design and one of the most fundamental is which is better, a horizontal menu at the top of the site (above or below the branding) or a vertical side menu alongside the content? This is a question of little concern to most web denizens unless you one day had to design a website – for example if you signed up for an EZBIZsa web suite. The choice comes down to a personal choice, although there are a few considerations here;

A horizontal menu is always visible when the page loads and is easily accessible, especially is the buttons are large and easy to spot. I would say that if your website has only a few pages, this should be your menu of choice. What is more, certain menu button, like tabs, work only with horizontal menus.

A vertical menu is great if you have many buttons on it. Due to the fact that there is usually less space between the menu button text in this style of menu, it can appear more cramped, but because the buttons form a “block”, you can get some interesting effects using original button backgrounds.

Whichever menu style you choose, make sure the buttons on your menu are distinct and large enough to be easily found. You will be dumbfounded by how many web design companies have designed their websites with tiny buttons.

Also make sure that the text contrasts with the background colour in both the “up” (when the mouse pointer is not hovering over the button) and “over” (when the mouse pointer is hovering over the button) states. I usually use a dark text colour on a light background in the “up” state ad reverse it in the “over” state.

Finally, keep your “Home” button the first button from the left in a horizontal menu or the top button in a vertical menu. I have seen quite a few creative attempts where the “Home” button is buried in amongst the button herd. In this case, it's best to follow convention.

Whine of the Month: Forum Trolls

2010-08-11T18:03:00.000-07:00

Time for some whine. And you thought that trolls only existed in fairy tales. Well, they don't. They lurk in many dark corners of the social Internet, waiting to spread their bile and hatred by attacking what they see as the naïve and unwary. On almost every forum you go to, especially those that are poorly shepherded, you will see their wounding comments, usually insulting a “newbie” for making a blunder or producing what they see as sub-standard work. They could have offered constructive criticism. But no, they unleash a tirade upon the unsuspecting forum-goer who is contributing to the forum in the hopes of finding help and support. What meanness is this? It is pathetic that people who know more than others scorn those still learning in such a way or offer their opinions on the work of others as if they are they, the trolls, are the be-all and end-all of their trade! My opinion is that trolls should be shunned from the Internet. They are a threat to the very nature of forums and the social nature of the Internet. They drive people away instead of encouraging them. It chaps my posterior to see this. In fact when I see examples it, I often sign up for the forum just to have a go at the trolls.

And if you are a troll – or are even just troll-ish, here's a tip or three. No-one likes a pompous know-it-all and no matter how much you think you know, there will always be someone who knows more than you. Plus, everyone makes mistakes – even opinionated trolls. So if someone asks for an opinion on something in a forum or to look at their website or code and give feedback, and you feel you have something to contribute, please do so in a friendly and constructive way. If you see mistakes, draw the person's attention to it in a constructive way. You can always, always say whatever needs saying in a positive manner. Otherwise shut-the-hell-up! Oh, and if you are a troll, you are in a minority, thankfully, and your intimidating attitude does not prove that you are an expert – just a jack-ass.

I don't have a small business?

2010-08-09T08:37:00.000-07:00

I thought I had a small business – my small concern running out of a drafty garage through which I (just) make ends meet. Turns out I don't. I have a very small or micro business. According to the National Small Businesses Act of 1996 (a whopping good read by anyone's standards – yawn), a small business in the “Business Services” sector (or “space”) would employ between 50 and 120 people, have a total turnover of between ten and twenty million Rand and have assets of between two and four million smackers. Whoa there tiger! Turns out, me and my clan of wannabe IT execs fall squarely into the very small or micro-business category, depending on the requirement you look at. Ag, shame! I would prefer my business to be classified a very small business because the word “micro” sounds like something too small to even care about – like microbe or micrometer. I don't want a “microscopic” business. Micro businesses operate off folding tables under umbrellas next to busy interchanges, don't they?

So, from here on out, until the millions start rolling in, I will have to refer to my business a very small concern. Sad, isn't it.

5 Myths About Website Design

2010-08-05T20:02:00.000-07:00

Websites. Every business needs one (that is not a myth). But as with everything from JFK's assassination to dealing with burns, there are a plethora of opinions, warnings and plain old rumours that influence people into believing things that may not be true. Here are a few myths that, hopefully, will be dispelled.

Number 1 - Websites are expensive
They can be. However, there are a lot of decently priced solutions out there and there are certainly one to match your budget. Heck, you even get a pretty decent website for free. For example, you can try our own website builder's free version (www.ezbizsa.com) or Yola's (www.yola.com). Both offer slightly different approaches to website building but in both cases you get a pretty nifty site for nada, zilch or even zip! There are a number of website builder solutions that you can use for a small monthly payment, from our own (www.ezbizsa.com - sorry about the plug; it's the last time, I promise), Yahoo's offering or Homestead. These website builders allow you to build a cool website for about the price of a burger meal at a fast food restaurant. Okay, you have to do the work yourself, but they have all made the process really easy. Getting someone else to do it for you will cost anything north of R2000,00 in sunny SA - although for a half-decent job expect to pay between R3000,00 to R5000,00. In the grand scheme of things, it really is not expensive when compared with other types of promotion, advertising or printing. After all, you have to spend money to make money!

Number 2 - If you build it, they will come
This is a good one. How many times haven't I heard "I spent a fortune on my website and haven't received a single inquiry through it". "What did you do to promote your site?" I ask and get a confused look. "No, the website is supposed to promote me ... isn't it?" Websites do not automatically go out and hunt down business for you. This is a big misconception that has to be eradicated as soon as possible ... squashed like a bug, eviscerated, harpooned and so on. Although you can have your website "optimised" to catch web search traffic from search engines like Google, doing this properly is expensive. You don't have to market your website per se, but to make it work for you, you need to promote your business and youself. The cool thing is that just having a website opens up all sorts of opportunities through online networking and finding people who would like to link to your site, both of which will get people visiting your website and help your bottom line in the long run.

Number 3 - Looks aren't important
Sure. Which would you rather have, a Lada or a Lamborghini? Looks are very important especially because people will make all sorts of assumptions about your company within about 3 seconds of seeing your website. Like everything, it all comes down to cost. An absolutely fabulous website will cost oodles of cash but you should at least have a decent-looking site that is easy to navigate. Especially is you are using a website builder (no plug, see), take a look at other sites to get some ideas. Many website builders are quite limited in what they offer (ours isn't - it's very versatile ... oops, sorry) so you are stuck with the templates they offer or a limited number of options.

Number 4 - Looks are more important than content
Why do people go to websites? To find information, right? So give them what they are looking for. There is nothing worse than finding a website that looks awesome but has nothing but corporate fluff as content. No details, no prices. This kind of thing is a real turnoff - like Kim Jong-Il in a swimming costume. The web is all about information. Rather put too much on your site than too little. No need to put personal details up, however. Your website visitors don't want to know about that rash and how it's healing up. In short, balance looks and content - don't go too heavy on either.

Number 5 - I know better than my web designer
Would you second-guess your doctor? Okay, in a government hospital, maybe. Here's a tip. If you have bothered to find a web designer that you are going to pay to design a website, let them do what they do best. Don't get in their way. They have a load more experience in all things webby than you do and should know what the trends and technologies out there are to have your website found and appreciated by the viewing public. It's fine to tell them in general terms what you want but listen to their suggestions and consider them carefully. Yes, some web designers are scam artists, but if you get decent references you can make an informed decision about choosing the right one. I have seen decently designed website go to pot because of the owner's meddling. If you want to do it yourself, use a website builder (... you know what I want to say here). Then you can go to town and let your creativity hang out there.

So there you have it. Five myths about website design debunked, de-myth-tified, so to speak.

New Clients vs. Existing Clients

2010-08-02T17:17:00.001-07:00

How often do you contact your existing or past clients? Most businesses spend most of their time and marketing spend on signing up new customers and as many experts agree they are missing a golden opportunity. You see, you most probably assume your existing and past customers know about you - hey, they bought from you, right? Wrong. People have short memories and with all of the competition out there fro their attention, it's no wonder. Unless they are buying something they really need from you regularly, they will forget all about you within a short time. In any case, they are focused more on what they are getting than the company they are getting it from in most cases.

So here's a tip. Get hold of your existing customers every now and then. You most probably have their details (their email address is best) and because they bought from you before, there is a better than average chance they will buy from you again - if their last experience with you wasn't horrendous (like mine is with a certain gym chain in South Africa that I am never going anywhere near again). Plus, according to the experts (those ethereal wizard-like know-it-alls that everyone quotes and no-one can actually identify) it's apparently between 60% and 80% cheaper to get business from existing customers than from new ones. Hmmm - thought-provoking, eh? Obviously what you offer should be good enough that they would want to buy it and your service should be good enough that they would want to deal with you again. Also, if you can, you should have a look at what they bought before and suggest products or services to compliment their purchase; "You bought Brand-X running shoes from us last month - we have a great line of orthopedically designed sports socks that you might be interested in ...". Or you can personalise it with some helpful information; "I found this fantastic article with tips for mulching and since you used our garden service before, I know you take caring for your garden seriously". In other words, try to personalise the reminder with specifics if you can. You know what they bought from you so you have some idea about what they need or do. Yes, sometimes you need to make assumptions, but try to make educated guesses where you have to. If someone bought false teeth adhesive from you, there is a pretty good chance that they have false teeth - although they might have bought it for their dear old mother so don't assume it was for them. In this case saying something like "How are your false teeth holding up?" would be a bad assumption. It would be better to make it more general; "As you know, false teeth are expensive and need constant care". Whoever they bought it for, there are false teeth somewhere in their universe and that makes them a potential customer!
Personalisation makes the recipient feel good that you took the time to get in touch and the personal touch is always well-received.

This does not mean that you should give up on finding new customers? Nay. Quite the contrary. It's a strategy that should form part of your regular marketing activities. And like a newsletter, don't overdo it. Getting in touch with existing customers once every two or three months, should be sufficient - unless you have good deals on a regular basis. I wouldn't mind hearing from the guy I bought my computer from every month with good tech deals on those oh-so-yummy gadgets fresh off the boat from the Orient.
Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go and get in touch with my exiting customers ...

Websites 101

2010-07-30T08:11:00.000-07:00

I am going to make this short and sweet. You want a website or you have a website and wonder why it hasn't done a damned thing to help you make more money. Well take at some of the things you should know about owning a website ...

What Good Are Websites and Why You Need One

Online Brochure – A website is a great place to tell people about what you do/sell and who your are.

No Site? – More and more people will search for a company they hear about or read about to find out more about them. If they don't find a website, they swiftly forget about that company. If they do find a website and like what they see, they might bookmark it or make a note about it. Thing is, if you have no site, you aren't even in the running, and you look unprofessional.

When Change Is In the Air – Unlike almost every other type of promotional material, websites can be changed, added to and refined at any time. They are fluid and can be adapted very quickly to new situations.

Online Store – You can set up an online store to sell goods on the Internet. This is especially good if you have a brick and mortar store anyway or if you sell stuff in a niche market.

Some Geeky Terms Explained

Before we go on, let's clear up what some of the geek-speak related to website design is.

Server – A server is a computer that is constantly connected to the Internet and is used to “serve” web pages to people surfing the web.

Browser – This is the program on your computer that you use to surf the web. The most popular browsers are Internet Explorer (yuck!), Firefox and Opera.

Domain Name – This is the name of a website that can be “rented” for an annual fee. Domain names are made up of a name and a TLD (top level domain), for example ezbizsa.com (without the http:// and the www.). Once you have rented a domain name (through a web host - see below) it is then “pointed” to your website so that when people type in your website address, they end up on your website.

URL – A URL (uniform resource locator) is the full web address of a site, for example http://www.ezbizsa.com. A URL must include the “http://”.

Social Media – Popular websites that allow people to connect with one another for social or business purposes. Examples include Facebook, Twitter and Linked-In.

Upload – The act of moving files from your computer to a server, effectively putting them “on” your website.

Home Page – This is the main page of your website and the first page that a visitor to your site will see.

Websites Need The Following …

New to the wonderful world of websites? Here are a few things every business website should have.

Website Files – These are the website pages that you will see when you go to the website on the Internet. They will be designed by your website designer/developer and “uploaded” to a server. Website files are written in HTML, which is a computer language that is read by web browsers.

Domain Name – Your address on the Internet. It should relate to your company name or what your website is about and should be short enough to remember. It cannot have spaces and if possible, try to stay away from hyphens (-) and underscores (_) - although as many of the domain names have already been snapped up, sometimes hyphens are a good idea. So, if your company name is “Omnicorp”, a good website name would be “www.omnicorp.co.za” or “www.omnicorp.com”.

Web Hosting – You need to put your website on a server and for this you will need web hosting. Web hosting companies provide space on their servers, in return for a monthly fee, in which you can load your website so that it will be “on the Internet”.

Web Space – This is the virtual space on a server that is allocated to your website. It is measured in bytes (more typically gigabytes these days) and limits the number of web pages, images, audio and video files and media (collectively called “files”) that you can keep on the server. Once you have used up all your web space, you can't add any more files.

Bandwidth – This is a measure of hos much traffic is allowed to access your website. Each time a person views a page on your website, they use up some of the bandwidth. Once your limit is reached for the month, your website is no longer accessible – although most web hosts offer top-ups so that you can keep your website online by paying a little extra. It is far more important to have a high bandwidth than high web space limit and you should make sure that the bandwidth you get is measured in Gb (gigabytes).

Databases – These are like glorified spreadsheets that store information for your website. Databases are accessed by the website so that information can be stored there and retrieved later. The most popular database type is MySQL. Most decent web hosts offer several databases with each hosting account.

What a Website Should and Shouldn't Have

Should – Your website should have a domain name (like www.mycompany.com) not a subdomain name (like yourcompany.blogspot.com) to look professional. Subdomain show that you are sharing space with other websites. If you have a domain name, you can also have branded email addresses as well (bob@yourcompany.com is much better than free website accounts, like bobsmith@yahoo.com as these are frowned upon in business).

Should – Your website should have an interesting home page that will make the visitor want to stay there and find out more about what you do. A person should have a fair idea what you do or sell just be glancing at the home page. After all, it takes them about three seconds to decide whether or not your website (and your company) and worth their time.

Should – It should have a page about you, your company and why you are different from all the other people doing the same thing you are.

Should – Your website should have a “Contact Us” page on which you list your contact numbers and have a contact form that will allow people to contact you by e-mail quickly and easily.

Should – Your site should have a fair amount of good, custom graphical content. Graphical elements include header images, buttons, backgrounds as well as pictures of you and your staff. Don't overdo it but pictures make the site more attractive.

Should – Register with Google Analytics (which involves pacing some code on your website pages) so that you can track how many people are visiting your website, what they are doing there and where they are from.

Shouldn't – Your home page (or any other page for that matter) shouldn't drag on forever as people will get bored after a few sentences.

Shouldn't – You should try to stay away from splash pages – those annoying Flash movies that you have to wait for before you can skip them and see the home page of the site. Splash pages turn many people off (because they have to wait – a no-no on the Internet!) and although they used to be popular, they no longer are.

What a Website Should Cost

Prices range widely, but the amounts below give an indication of the range and what would be fair. The prices below are a guide and exclude web hosting and domain names.

Basic Brochure – If you have your heart set on a simple 3 page website you can set up a free one through EZBIZsa or Yola and just buy a domain name. If you want a custom-built one, it should rush you about R2000, 00 to R4000,00. I wouldn't pay more than R4000,00. Remember that if you get a custom site designed, you will also have to pay about R200,00 to R300,00 an hour to make changes.

Blog – Free blog software like Wordpress has become a viable alternative to traditional websites. However, like anything, if you have little or no experience setting websites up, perhaps they are not a good option as a DIY project. There are many web designers out there who will set one up for you. But I wouldn't pay more than about R3000,00 to have that done. After all, most of the work has been done for the designer.

CMS Site – If you want to be able to make changes to your site yourself, you can have a CMS site built. CMS stands for Content Management System and basically allows you to change the text, add and remove pictures, products, articles and so on to or from your site by yourself without having to know anything about how websites work. There are free CMS frameworks like Drupal and Joomla and many designers and developers modify these for clients and charge anywhere from R2000,00 to R10 000,00 for their work. In theory, you could do it yourself but take my word for it, it will take you six months part time just to get comfortable using it and your website will be far from being a good website. Custom CMS systems can range from R5000,00 to millions – depending on what you want it to do and who you get to build it. You should be able to get a decent custom-built CMS system with newsletter, gallery, blog and articles system for around R10 000,00. You will pay more for additional features.

Online Store or E-commerce Solution – Again, there are open source (free) systems that you could, theoretically set up yourself, although unless you are technically inclined, I would get a professional to do it for no more than R7 000,00 or R8 000,00 (depending on the number of products to be added and configured). There are also custom built online stores that will cost more than the open source systems – usually a lot more. The reason is that security is a major concern. You don't want someone who is giving you a “good deal” to be building an e-commerce site for you that has security flaws as you will be out of business in no time.

Domain Name – Domain names go for about R100,00 per year for a .co.za name and R150,00 to R200,00 per year for a .com, .net, .biz or .org. Unless you are hitting a niche or country specific market, stay away from the other domains if you are in South Africa.

Web Hosting – We explained what web hosting is above. Most web designers do not have their own servers but will use the servers of a hosting company. For you average website, I wouldn't pay more than R100,00 per month in hosting fees. There are more and more ridiculously cheap hosting options popping up – I have seen hosting plans at under R10,00 per month – and it all depends on the service you are going to get along with the specifications of the hosting plan as to whether it's a good deal or not.

Common Mistakes in Websites

Spelling – Check your spelling and grammar! Nothing screams dumbass more than a DIY site with kindergarten English. If you need to, pay someone to check it for you.

Information vs. Design – Which is more important in a website? Design is important to the point that it entices people to want to stay on the page initially because it is pleasing on the eye. It is also important in creating that essential initial impression of the site and your company. However, at the end of the day, most people are on your site to find information. So it's essential to make sure that they can get at the information they want quickly and easily. My own view is that the content slightly beats out the design (Oops, now I have made the designers angry …) although both are important.

Consistency - Make sure it looks consistent from page to page. It's annoying when a site's appearance changes from page to page. Choose a font (the text style) and font size, as well as three or four colours and shades and use them throughout your site. Creativity is one thing but you have to know when to stop being creative.

Readability – I am not sure about you, but my eyesight is fading – and websites with tiny text only make it worse. And yes, there are still many websites out there with very small text – even the sites of successful web designers (makes you thing, doesn't it?). I try to ensure that the text size I use is equivalent to at least 10 points (the measurement of text sizes in your word processor program) but usually opt for 11 or 12points. Obviously you don't want text that's too big either for obvious reasons.

Space – Space is good. Try to leave some empty space between elements. It's easy on the eyes and makes a site look uber-professional.

Misconceptions

Keywords and Content – There are still many web designers and marketing specialists who charge a fortune for that dark art that is SEO – the mysterious modification of your site content to get it onto the first page of Google results (a little like using a weegie – or rather ouija - board). Keywords and SEO have a part to play in making your site easy to find but unlike two years ago, they are not the only way to get found nowadays. Inbound links to your site from other relevant sites (NOT link farms or sites where anyone and everyone can add a link to their site) are the best way to get high Google rankings. What is more, it all depends on how much competition you have and which words are used in a search as to where you rank. These SEO services are not cheap and I am not convinced that they are necessary, especially for small businesses with limited budgets – unless, of course you rely on web-only business.

If I Build It, They Will Come – The biggest misconception about websites. Just because you have a website means very little in most cases. People will not flock to it just because it exists. You have to keep it fresh and dynamic and relevant – and, most importantly, you have to promote it by promoting yourself. Yes, it is supposed to promote you, and it will if people get to hear about you. Once they hear your name or a little about what you do, and their interest is peaked, they will jump onto Google and look for your site to find out more. That's when it really does its work because you already have some “qualified” interest . Yes, hopefully there will be people finding your website through search engines, but you have to be more proactive than simply sitting on your hands and waiting for people to turn up.

Website Built – Let the Work Begin!

When you have finished building your website, that's when the real work online starts! Here are some steps that can be taken to make it start working for you.

Register with Search Engines – When your site is finished, register it with Google, Yahoo! And DMOZ and any others you can find that are free. You don't need to pay for a listing.

Get Social – Join Facebook and Linked-In as well as any other online groups and forums you can that relate to your field and put the webs address to your website wherever you can (in your profile and web links sections – although be careful not to overdo it). Then pop by every few days to stay abreast of developments and remain active. These sites are a great place to spread the word about what you do, make connections and exchange links. And links to your website from relevant sources is what you should be striving for.

It's All in The URL – Your URL (website address with the http:// tacked on the front) should be printed on all your business stationery and must be at the bottom of every email you send out. Don't be shy about it.

Blog - If you can slap a decent sentence together and are knowledgeable about you field start a blog. There are many good free blog services like Blogger and Wordpress. The big thing here is to make sure that you add something to it about twice a week – your thoughts on and reactions to news and events, what you are planning and so on. Make it relevant and try to make it interesting to read. The main thing is that you stick to it. The web is full of blogs started by excited bloggers that have fallen into disuse. Doing that will make you look unprofessional.

Articles – If you are a decent writer, you can write articles to help and inform potential clients – and others. These can be posted on your website (and are a good way of adding content) as well as on forums and other social sites. The more articles you write the better. Websites like Squidoo and HubPages are great places to post articles. The big thing is to make sure that the information you espouse is accurate.

Newsletters – If you have an online newsletter system, mores the better. If you don't know how it works, you have a form on your website that allows visitors to sign up for your newsletter. Then once a month or once every two months, you write up a short newsletter with interesting content about your industry, special deal you are offering and so on and send it to your subscribers. Don't send it too often or it will be seen as the dreaded spam. To get people to sign up, you may need to offer something – a discount on what you sell or a free download of a document (like this one).

Conclusion

As you can see, there is a lot to think about and having a website is a little more P.T. that many people think – and these are just the basics. However, websites are most definitely and essential part of a company's arsenal and can be a really effective marketing tool – if they are used correctly and integrated into the company's marketing mix.

The Madiba Effect

2010-07-17T20:43:00.000-07:00

It's Madiba's birthday and although he has faded from the limelight somewhat since withdrawing from public life, the Madiba Effect is still as strong as ever. The name "Nelson Mandela" is inspiring to people all over the world and has taken on legendary status on the scale of Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa.
The name stands for something. It stands for overcoming adversity, perseverance and humility. Nelson Mandela is South Africa's best known son and as time passes, I am sure that his name will grow in stature, the stories of his life will be embellished and the hearts of all South Africans will swell with pride when we hear his name uttered. The truth is that there are people who do not like him and many who think he was an ineffectual President who was just a figurehead of the much-maligned ANC. But that was just politics.
Nelson Mandela has shown us that you can do what you set out to do. If you believe in yourself and stick to your guns, you can be successful ... even if it takes twenty seven years. And when success comes, you can be humble and conciliatory and still care about the little guy. These are the lessons that businesses, especially those in South Africa, can take to heart to make themselves better. So, on Mandela's birthday, why not share in the Mandela Effect and make the world, and your business, better.

Do You Fear Websites?

2010-07-16T07:32:00.001-07:00

Websites. Essential marketing tools say some. An unnecessary waste of money say others. There are those who champion an online presence, those who are indifferent and those who resist a foray into the online world. This article is aimed at the last group, those who, for one reason or another fear the Internet - or fear the perceived costs of having a website built.

What Do I Need a Website For, Anyway?

This is a question I have heard many times when asking business owners whether or not they have an online presence. Most people are still under the impression that a website is just an online brochure. Many who have a website built "just in case" soon forget that their site even exists and then when asked about it, say what a waste of money it was. The reason it is a waste of money for them is because it isn't doing anything for them.

A website is like an employee - sort of. If you don't give them the necessary tools to be effective and tell them what to do, they will just sit in the office and mess around on Facebook (the employee, not the website). How do you give a website tools? You build them into it. What are tools? Tools are things that let you as the website owner, find out about and connect with people who are visiting your site. That's the point of any kind of marketing ... to allow a seller to interact with potential purchasers. So tools like newsletter systems, surveys, comment boxes and voting systems all help visitors to a website interact with it. And if they interact with the site, they remain there longer and look at the content. Bingo! That's what you want them to do. You want them to look at the content on your website. If you can, you also want to get their e-mail address so you can send them a message every now and then about your new products and special deals (which you can do by enticing them to sign up for a newsletter), but that is a bonus.

You also have to tell your website what to do. This does not mean talking to your computer. It means adding content - news, ideas, events, products ... whatever might be interesting. This can be done in two ways. You can get your website designer to do it, which will cost a few hundred Rand each time and will most probably take two weeks because the designer "has better things to do" than add some news to your site about the potato race you held for customers in your showroom. The other option is to add a CMS (geek-speak for Content Management System), which is a tool (and therefore costs extra) but it allows your nineteen year-old receptionist who think the web is where spiders live to add pages and pictures to your site. A dynamic site is a good site.

All this talk of tools - sounds expensive.

You Get What You Pay For

You could get away with a website for a few thousand Rand (a few hundred dollars). It will have a few pages, look quite nice and have a form through which visitors to your site can contact you. Many business people think that is sufficient. We now have a website, they say to themselves, checking it off in their list of must-haves.

This is a brochure site. Sure, it can be useful if people are actually looking for it and know the address or the company name. But it is not very interesting and most people who see it will not stick around to read its contents unless they are interested in its subject matter.

Unfortunately, to get a site with great looks, a great set of tools and "rememberability", it will cost more. Not NASA "more". A good, well designed, well-equipped site should cost between ten and twenty thousand Rand, depending on what you want. It can be more if you want "the works", but let's not get ahead of ourselves . Of course, you could always go to one of the Rivonia-based advertising agencies who will whip you up a website for the price of a luxury German sedan, but what they do for you is no better than what many smaller specialist web designers will do.

Little plug here - now, if you want a good deal, you can pick an EZBIZsa web suite (that's suite, not site, because it offers so much more than just a site) with bucket loads of tools and a built in CMS for just R69,00 per month (the Pro package). There is even a free version to try out (no tools, though). Sure, it isn't quite what the same as a R10 000,00 custom-built job, but it punches well above its weight division and comes close, in my opinion. So, there is value out there if you look for it. Plug over.

After the Build

Now that your site has been built, you can sit back and relax, right? Wrong! This is where the work really begins. Now that you have a website, you need people to go and see it because they will be able to see who you are, what you do and why they should give you their money. A good starting point is adding your website address (or url in geek-speak) to your business cards, letterheads and your e-mail signature - actually, add it to everything you can. You also need to add content regularly and religiously, decent content, not drivel that no-one cares about. This is where having a CMS comes in handy. Adding content helps keep your website fresh, which means that visitors know that if they return to your site periodically, they will find something new, and hopefully, interesting. However, if you start with a campaign like this, you must see it through. Choose one or two days a week on which you spend an hour or so going through your site adding new content or improving the content that is already there.

If you have a newsletter system as one of your tools, you need to send out newsletters monthly or bi-monthly. Again, if you start doing this, keep it up or you look like a flake. Newsletters need not be long, but they should be informative. When the recipient reads it, they should think "Wow, good point. Let me go and check out this guy's website again". There is a much better chance they will buy from you if you keep reminding them who you are.

Websites and Social Media

New in the playground are social media as marketing tools. Social media? You know, Facebook, Twitter, Linked In and the crowd. You might think they are just for mucking about on, but let me tell you that this is far from the case. If you are not signed up with these sites, you need to do so now. It's so easy to make connections that you otherwise wouldn't have, not only for sales but for advice, feedback and information. And in the twenty-teens, social media is going to become even more important. Along with adding new content on your site and sending out newsletters, you should set time aside to network, virtually.

In Conclusion

So, that's my story. Owning a good website is a lot more work that you thought, right. But if you want your business to grow, you can't ignore this trend. Even if you think that you have enough business coming in without a website and don't need one, the day will come when you will wish you had taken your business online. And then it's too late as building a good website takes time. Sorry if that sounds like a scare tactic but it's the truth. You have to get your business online today or you will face problems tomorrow.

2010-07-15T21:32:00.000-07:00

Old Spice has a great marketing campaign. Very funny in my view. Here's one example ... just for a laugh.

There are a host of these "off-the-wall" ads on Youtube. Nice to see an entertaining, interactive campaign like this.

Is Google Losing Its Grip on Online Marketing?

2010-07-13T07:56:00.000-07:00

For several years Google has been the undisputed king of online marketing. Every website owner who wanted to achieve any success with their online offering has had to take Google's requirements into consideration when building their website to help it rank high in Google's search rankings and many have signed up for Google's pay-per-click services. However, could their domination be coming to an end with the advent of Facebook advertising and Twitter?

Several pundits have started saying that social media will overtake Google as the number one resource for online marketing. An article in Mashable is an example of this viewpoint. The writer of that article makes some good points that Facebook seems to be building itself up to take Google head-on. It has numerous resources that it is planning to deploy and according to PR News, Facebook is now getting more US web visits than Google (7.07% in contrast to 7.03%). Obviously, Mark Zuckerberg has big plans for Facebook.

But at the moment, Google still rules the roost. From an online advertising viewpoint, criticism of Facebook's ad system abound, while Google remains the established leader. And Google remains the most popular search engine - even with the inroads that Bing is making - the latter being the search platform the Facebook will rely on to offer real-time search. There is no doubt that Facebook has made impressive strides in the past few years as far as numbers go. But Facebook only went "cashflow positive" late last year while Google made $6.5 billion profit last year. That's a lot of cash in anyone's language, and a nice pot to fund the beefing up of their offering - something they need to do after the series of "flops" (flops being a relative term) they experienced - Google Wave, anyone? Another advantage that Google has - or rather, disadvantage that Facebook has - is the entire privacy issue related to Facebook. Google has no such worries.

In conclusion, keep plugging away at your Google keywords and PPC - but keep an eye on Facebook.

Social Responsibility and Small Business

2010-07-07T02:31:00.000-07:00

We all want to help where we can - well, most of us do. Anyway, I was thinking about social responsibility and my business. Do I have a responsibility to improve the lives of others who have nothing to do with my business beyond simply donating money when there is a little left over? I believe so. So what can I do to help them. I don't have the money to build a school or a feeding centre ... but I want to do something. I suppose as with anything, I should first find out about existing groups who could use my help. Then I should contact them to find out if I can help. I am not saying that I have the time or inclination to go and ladle out soup to the homeless on freezing weekday mornings (I am also not saying that I won't do it), but I think that my company can provide other alternatives.

We provide website building facilities to the general public so it is no skin off our nose to set up one of our EZBIZsa websites for deserving organisations that actually do actively help those I want to help. We have contacted several charities and aid organisations to offer this. The weird thing is that none of those charities have taken us up on the offer, even though they expressed interest. I guess they are busy too. I suppose we could offer education to people who want to learn what we know - although we might run afoul of the law and be fined by the education department.

I have been wondering where I can find the details of other smaller charities and aid groups. There doesn't seems to be any directory that one can consult and I am sure that in South Africa there are many groups helping the less fortunate. And I am loathe to donate money to the large organisations with their bureaucracies and red tape that eat up the money.

But do I have a responsibility to help others, bearing in mind that my business just makes enough to allow me to get by, as do most small businesses in South Africa? We all assume that large and even medium companies have such a responsibility - even though there are tax breaks involved. I think that small business does have a responsibility to help less fortunate where possible. I just hope that those people will accept our help.

Blogging

2010-07-06T20:59:00.000-07:00

Below is a video excerpt from Seth Godin's seminar in which he and Tom Peters talk about the value of blogging. I must admit that it was an eye-opener.

Payment Processing South Africa

2009-09-09T09:02:00.000-07:00

With all of the talk about e-commerce these days and with improving Internet facilities that make online commerce something that is viable for a small business in South Africa, I started thinking about what options there were to process payments.

Let’s assume you have something you want to sell online. How do you go about it?

Well, first, you need a website with an online shopping capability. It is easy enough to set up an online store nowadays with open source shopping cart scripts freely available online. Many hosting solutions come with packages that are easy to install, although configuring them correctly can take some practice, especially if you are not a geek – or don’t know one (everyone should know a geek).

Then comes the important part; how does the purchaser pay you? This is the most important part of the entire online selling process, for you as the vendor at least: getting the money from the purchaser. And this is where payment processing comes in.

For a long time South Africa has been left in the technological backwaters as far as the Internet is concerned by our useless but omnipotent telecommunications giant Telkom, which made decent Internet accessibility too expensive for all but the wealthiest companies and individuals. The only way to get paid online back then was to set up your own payment gateway through your bank. This required outlay, guarantees to your bank and getting specialist web developers to write special code for your website, amongst other things. You had to have money behind you and you had to be sure of online sales. Due to the shortage of Internet users in South Africa, there have been no online payment solutions that have made processing online payments easy for smaller vendors until recently Things are slowly changing and more and more small businesses are able to offer their goods and services online.

It is nice to finally see some local online payment solutions, which will make it easier for small businesses to accept online payments. The main thing to remember is to make sure that you make paying easy and you give the purchaser a choice of payment methods. Perhaps one credit card payment processing solution doesn’t work when the purchaser tries to pay through them. Do you have a back-up solution in place, a second payment option for example? Perhaps they don’t have a credit card. Can you accept other forms of payment? These are things that you need to look at carefully before unleashing your online shop on the world.

So let’s look at some of the payment options for online small businesses.

Local Solutions

Payfast

By the looks of things, Payfast will be South Africa’s answer to Paypal. Although you can’t accept credit cards through them yet, you can transfer money to other Payfast users and pay by a secure EFT system that does not require you to give out your bank account number. What is more, you can also accept Ukash through them. They have various types of account from personal ones to accounts for business. It is free and easy to sign up and looks like it will become a popular choice for small businesses – once a fair portion of the South African web surfing public have Payfast accounts. If they extend their service to allow small businesses to accept credit cards through them, however, their popularity will sky-rocket! For now, however, they have a lot to offer and are worth trying out. Check out their website at www.payfast.co.za.

Netcash

Netcash is most probably the most capable payment processing service for e-commerce that is currently available in South Africa. It’s easy enough to sign up if you are a registered close corporation or company and there is a fee that you have to pay up front (it’s a few hundred Rand) plus they take a portion of the amounts processed by them. They will process debit orders, credit cards and more, so they should be a one stop shop for the serious e-commerce website. You can see everything they have to offer at www.netcash.co.za.

Ukash

Ukash is a new type of payment system through which people buy vouchers at their local convenience store or supermarket and use them to pay for things online. It means that you can now shop online without requiring a credit card. It is new in South Africa and so we’ll have to see how well it is accepted by the public. Bear in mind that you can accept Ukash through Payfast.

Virtual Card Services

I don’t know too much about VCS but several South African online vendors sing their praises. To sign up with them, you need to be a registered credit card accepting merchant with one of the South African banks, something that the other solutions here don’t require. They charge fees per transaction just like most of the other credit card and there doesn’t appear to be a signup fee. If you want to know more, check out www.vcs.co.za.

International Solutions

There are many payment processing companies out there but the only two I would say that are worth looking at are the following;

Paypal

The international payment solution for most of the civilized world – not us anymore, I am afraid. You can transfer money to other people and even accept credit card payments through your website. It is free to sign up and their fees are reasonable. However, if you are a South African individual or business, you cannot withdraw any money from your Paypal account to a South African bank. You can spend any money you make through your website but only online and at sites that accept Paypal payments. However, that doesn’t help when you need to pay for groceries or pay rent. Hopefully Paypal will accept South Africa into their fold one day soon so that we can also enjoy all they have to offer.

2Checkout

A company that has been around for a good while now and was one of the first 3rd party payment processing solutions for e-commerce. You need to pay to register with them and then they take a cut of the amounts you process, pretty much like all the other solutions. However, you can withdraw your money from them as a South African business. Some people love 2Checkout and others hate them. They are big and have loads of rules that you should read before signing up with them.

Conclusion

At the end of the day you should take a look at the various options and carefully weigh up what you need and which solution can offer what you need. Remember to read the fine print with all of them, especially the international companies as they are big and powerful and won’t care if you complain that you misunderstood the conditions and fee structure after the fact. It is especially important to see what their policy is about chargebacks*.

On a personal note, we use both Payfast and Netcash for our e-commerce needs (EZBIZsa and others) and they have complemented one another quite nicely so far. Setting both up and integrating them was easy and they provide decent support and documentation. However, we are not endorsing either and you must make your own mind about which solution will best suit your needs.

About the Author

Greg Bahlmann is a website designer and web developer based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He helps manage EZBIZsa web suites and is a keen supporter of promoting the Internet as a vehicle for small business proliferation.

*“A chargeback is the return of funds to a consumer, forcibly initiated by the consumer's issuing bank. Specifically, it is the reversal of a prior outbound transfer of funds from a consumer's bank account or line of credit.”
- “Chargebacks” article on Wikipedia

New Ideas

2009-09-06T01:03:00.000-07:00

I was just viewing an article on Bandwidth Blog about South African Web 2.0 type start-ups, and there seem to be a few real players emerging. Having a look at some of the offerings, they range from slick and professional to less so (although none are really bad) but most are modeled on existing ideas. Wouldn't it be great if a South African could come up with the next big thing? Something truly original and fresh. Maybe they have and it's just not the right time. Perhaps all the great ideas that would work have all been used up and all that's left if modifying existing ideas (I seriously doubt this - or at least I hope not). But timing, or so they say, is everything. Just look at Facebook. MySpace, which is very similar, was around a long time before the advent of Facebook, as were several other social sites. Obviously there was just something about Facebook (and timing and luck were a big part of it, I think) that appeals to people. Making it extensible with 3rd party plugins was a great idea and proves that true Web 2.0 apps have to get people involved, both users and developers. From what I can see, new Internet fads need not be complex (look at the concept of Twitter) ... in actual fact, they must be simple to understand for Joe and Jane Public to get attached to them. And they must be free.
It's exciting to imagine what is just over the horizon, what fascinating new Internet-based gadgets and gizmos the new Internet pioneers and building and testing as we speak. We'll know soon enough.

What is a Justifiable Sacrifice?

2009-08-22T08:50:00.000-07:00

So, I am busy starting up a business. Thing is, I need to spend oodles of time on my business but I also have to make ends meet financially and so I have to do other work as well. I also have a wife and small child that I need to spend time with. So where do I find the time to do everything? Unfortunately, like many people out there, family time starts to take a back seat.

But is that right? In theory, no. But in reality, my clients will not care that I wasn't spending enough time with my kid and that's why I didn't rush their job like they asked me to, preferring to take my offspring to the park than sitting behind a computer. It's a vicious cycle. And all it takes is one person who doesn't have kids/hates all kids/hates their own kids to pressure the person working for them to give up family time and so the dominoes fall. Now we're in a pickle. Our children and largely parentless, with most of us having shifted the responsibilities of bringing our children up to nannies/schools/grandparents just so we can get that promotion or make more money. Sure, we tell ourselves that we are doing it for our kids and that we will make up for the time lost with them today later on. But will we really? I think not.

I would like to appeal to anyone who reads this and who has kids to spend more time with their little ones, especially in the early years. They go by so fast and you can never get them back. And your influence will have a marked effect on the character of your child. It's worth a little less money, for sure!

Business and Politics Like Oil and Water

2009-08-10T21:54:00.000-07:00

Is it acceptable for business, big or small, to voice an opinion about politics? Take South Africa. It's a country with huge problems, not the least of which is the corruption that plagues every level of government (and business for that matter). Sure, there is copious amounts of crime, inefficiency and a patent lack of delivery of services, but let's just focus on corruption for now.

Every South African knows about the corruption and every citizen who is not a participant in that filthy scourge is outraged at just how corrupt South African society has become. And yet we hear nothing about it from the captains of industry. Are we, the little people, to surmise that the reason that we hear nothing from the captains of industry is because they are somehow involved in it? Surely not ... wink - wink. Or perhaps they just don't care? Or perhaps they are worried that they will lose the government business they have won ("No more big beemers!"). Yes, I admit that now and then there will be a cosmetic public relations exercise in which a company or extremely rich person will say something to the media about how terrible the problems in South Africa are, but for the most part, complaining about corruption and all the other problems facing the country is left to the powerless masses who must just cough and pay up. In my humble opinion, it is the responsibility of business to criticise the government when they drop the ball. That does not mean that they need to meddle in politics. They need only be concerned with the results of government programs, not how the programs are initiated or executed - unless corruption and/or inefficiency are exposed. Business has money and influence and that equals power and government listens to the powerful. At the moment, big business is seen by most as a whole lot of fat, greedy old men who are part of the "boy's club" where corruption has become the way of doing things and who are totally removed from real life.

Business could champion the causes of the man and woman in the street (who all too often are thei customers) and help put pressure on the government to not just talk about change but to actually do somthing about it. The last eight years under Mbeki's stewardship have been great for the rich and well-connected but dismal for the other 48 million of us. Yes, big business could lose government contracts if they are critical of government policy but if they are awarded contracts because they won't "rock the boat" then their silence is a form of corruption itself. My opinion is that it is the responsibility of every business, big and small, to criticise the government where criticism is justifies and to demand the services that the government is supposed to provide - for all the people of South Africa.

Things Are Looking Up ...

2009-08-03T08:51:00.000-07:00

... if you are a well-run business. Well, so say the experts;

I guess this is true whenever times are tough (or to a lesser degree when they are good, for that matter); no matter how big or small your business is, if you run it well, you will prosper. There is obviously more pressure during a recession and there are cases of "hm, so they went under. That's a surprise. I thought they were doing so well". Bad luck can strike and especially small businesses are extremely prone to shifts in the market - even if they are temporary in nature.

Hands up all those who have a comfortable cash cushion in the bank ...

What a Tangled Web

2009-07-13T07:03:00.000-07:00

It is sad that the web has become such a frightening place for the unwary, especially the older generation (a group that I will soon be joining looking at my graying sideburns and bald head). Small business people, little old grannies, housewives and even successful executives have fallen victim to many a scam perpetrated on them through the Internet making those who hear of these incidents even more hesitant to go online. This is a pity because the Internet offers so much. In view of this, here are a few tips if you happen to be one of the “graying” Internet dabblers who has mastered e-mail and uses Internet banking but does little else with the Internet save checking on the sports scores and weather.

1. Don’t Use Public Internet Access to Log into Internet Banking
No website is infallible, no matter how good they say their security is and banks are prime targets for Internet criminals. In a place like an Internet café, a library or airport where anyone has access to the computer it is a huge no-no to log into any site that contains any of your personal information, especially one containing sensitive data like bank account numbers. Internet café computers are notoriously corrupt and criminals will often load software onto these public machines to store usernames and passwords which are later retrieved and used to access whichever sites the unsuspecting victims logged into from the Internet café. I would go so far as to say don’t even log into webmail (like Gmail or Yahoo!mail) or social sites like Facebook from these public machines.

2. Check the Lock
When logging into any secure environment like a banking website, make sure that the log in page’s web address starts with “https//:www…”. That “s” denotes that the communication between your computer and the server is secure. There should be a small lock icon at the bottom of the web browser and/or a coloured bar to the left of the web address that shows that the page is secure. If you click on the lock icon, you will be able to view the SSL certificate that confirms that the site is secure. This does not guarantee that the website is secure, however, but it offers some protection to you at least.

3. Use Firefox
Think about switching to the Mozilla Firefox web browser if you are still using Internet Explorer. Firefox is free and far more secure than Internet Explorer. And if you couldn’t be bothered to change, at least upgrade your browser to the latest version. So if you are still using Internet Explorer 5 or 6 you are looking for trouble as they are notoriously “cheesy” (full of holes).

4. Don’t Follow Links in Suspicious E-mails
This is how most people get caught out. They get an e-mail from “their bank” asking them to click on a link and into “their bank’s” website to verify their details or something. What appears to be the bank’s website is actually a mock-up and when they log in, their usernames and passwords are stored and used by the criminals who set the scam up to enter their actual online bank account and steal the money they have there.
Banks should never ever ask you to do anything like this. They will never ask you to log into their website to do anything. If you get a message like this, phone your bank and ask about it before doing anything.

5. This May Seem Obvious …
The truth is that if you receive an e-mail asking to store money in your bank account for a weekend in return for a million dollars, it’s a scam. These sorts of things just don’t happen. If you hand your bank account details over, you are going to lose your money. Any deal that seems too good to be true IS too good to be true.

6. Beware of the Unsolicited Attachment
If you get an e-mail from someone you don’t recognize with an attachment (an attachment is a file that accompanies an e-mail and on which you must click to download to your computer where you would open it), I would suggest deleting it out of hand – especially if it promises free porn or a deal that’s too good to be true. Most e-mail systems can now clean malicious e-mails but their attachments could very well contain a virus that will infect your computer when downloaded and opened. This is how many computer viruses are spread nowadays.

7. Don’t Store Important Passwords in Your Phone or Keep Them in Your Wallet/Purse
If your phone or wallet/purse get stolen, nice Mr. Thief can peek at your important info and log into your accounts if he has some initiative. So where do you keep passwords? If you are like me, you have loads of passwords and it would be impossible to remember them all. I have had them tattooed backwards onto the soles of my feet so I can read them in a mirror. No chance that any criminal is going to get close to my sweaty feet on a hot day. It’s a personal choice but it helps to be devious. Many people I know write all their passwords in a small book that they hide away on their desk. That way they have all their codes in one place and it isn’t on their computer (which could get broken into – or hacked). Obviously the book could get stolen when nice Mr. Thief visits you in the dead of night and so it is important to put it somewhere not too obvious.

8. Don’t Use the Same Password Everywhere
Many people use the same password (usually their birthday) for all of their online accounts because it is easy to remember. Uh-oh. When nice Mr. Thief finds out one password he tries his luck at some other places he thinks you might be a member and voila! He has access to your virtual life. Then suddenly your bank account is empty and your Facebook gallery is full of pornography.

9. A Secure Password
There are dictionary programs out there than can crack a password made up of only English words or names in a matter of minutes, so it’s important to use difficult to guess passwords that would not appear in the dictionary. What is more, your passwords should be at least eight characters long and contain more than one capital letter and a few numbers. You could just use random numbers and letters – like F5bs91Xw95lq - but the problem with that is that it’s difficult to remember unless you have a head for that sort of thing. So I usually use a word or words that I will remember and alter it/them to make it harder to guess – like baZoo5kaf9iSh (“bazooka” and “fish” with a few numbers thrown in).

10. Get an Anti-Virus Program for Your Computer
Viruses are becoming a bigger and bigger threat as the Internet becomes more and more important and they live inside millions of computers without their owners ever realizing it, siphoning off information and sending it to the virus’ creator or acting as a transit point for computer code to attack government and corporate networks. It is therefore essential that every person take responsibility for their own computer’s security. Decent anti-virus software is available for free (suck as Komodo firewall) although paid-for software is always better. I use NOD 32 which is extremely good, easy to use and inexpensive. Make sure that the software you choose has a firewall, an anti-virus capability that is updated regularly (at least once a day) and an e-mail scanning capability. And don’t use pirated security software as you are playing with fire. Rather get the free software.

Security is an important part of being a “netizen” as much as it is in the real world, perhaps more so. And although much can be gained from being online, much can be lost as well. It’s important not to trust everything you read on the Internet and to take the trouble to find out about security, especially if you are going to conduct commerce online. Oh, and I was kidding about the tattoos on my feet.

WTF

2009-07-06T06:03:00.000-07:00

As an old fuddy-duddy, it is sad to see the English language being abbreviated by the SMS generation to the point of losing its very linguistic integrity. I can understand why this habit started, having battled to type complete sentences with a cellphone number pad myself, but I still think that things are going a bit far now. The language is being abbreviated out of existence. What is more it seems to be accepted practice for everyone under 25 years old.

Unfortunately, someone worked out a while ago that you can write perfectly understandable English by removing almost all vowels and this was music to the ears (or fingers) of SMSers, whose battered digits were badly in need of a break.

F y cn rd ths nd y knw wht m syng I hv jst prvd my pnt.

As you can see, most vowels have been removed, but it should still be completely comprehensible. Now that would be a lot easier to write than the full English, right.

I see that there are even websites that will now "translate" English into what is called lingo by some, or "SMS" (my own abbreviation for Simple Man's Syntax) as I like to call it. You can see an example here.

Hopefully the new generation of PDA phones with proper keyboards will go some way to putting a stop to this trend. At least there won't be an excuse any more. However, I fear that in 100 years or so (if humanity is still around and hasn't annihilated itself), the written English language will look quite different. The vowels will have gone the same way as the dodo and will onky be remembered by English professors. Shakespeare will be that much more difficult to understand and most novels (well, the e-book versions anyway because I doubt they'll still be printing books) will be about one-fifth shorter.

But I am going to doggedly stick with my "full" English and bitch and moan about the SMS version of the language. In short, WTF (Write Text Fully)!

Google, Blogs, Facebook, Twitter ...

2009-07-06T04:18:00.001-07:00

First there was Google. Then came blogs. Then Facebook. And now Twitter.

Well, Google (the search engine) seems to have held its own but there are more and more grumblings about its speed and its pervasiveness. And what of Bing - is that going to be Google's nemesis? However, search engines, although more popular than ever, are no longer the be-all-and-end-all of the Internet. They drive the 'net, sure enough, but most people just accept their existence and no longer swear allegiance to one search engine, not like during the heady days of Google's emergence and challenge to the then mighty Yahoo!. Heck, I use two or three of them nowadays.

Blogs are something else that has become passe on the Internet. Most business people have blogs to say they have one (me included) but who has time to update their blog regularly? My big problem is that nothing much happens in my life so what do I blog about. Very few people want to know about the results of my tongue scraping at the doctors or just how much bran I had for breakfast. There is even talk of the demise of the blog, although I am sure that blogs will remain with is in some form or other. Most of us love telling the world what we think - like I'm doing here.

Facebook is now reaching its apogee in the universal online app popularity contest and its membership continues to grow with those who are getting into it fashionably late. However, Facebook is even more of a time waster than blogging and has inadvertently become a perfect fit for for college students who used to watch kids' cartoons in the afternoons instead of studying and middle management in large corporations who used to play Solitaire. It's just a better mousetrap. I was on Facebook for a while but I just don't have time to "Become a ninja" or poke people or search for people I was at school with whom I couldn't stand and didn't like me, or better yet, didn't know I existed.

And the new kid on the block is Twitter. Personally I don't see the point. The fact that Twitter is so popular proves that there are millions of people with way to much time on their hands. I have no desire to know what anyone else is doing unless it involves a burning building or petrol tanker, a group of heavily armed terrorists and helicopter gunships. And most of the stuff I have seen on Twitter in my brief sojourn there did not include any of those three. Maybe it's just because I would have nothing to put on Twitter. "Sitting in front of computer typing code". "Sitting in front of computer typing code". "Sitting in front of computer typing code" ... yep, pretty boring. But it might be entertaining to read a few tweets by mountaineering, skydiving, bungee-jumping self-made billionaire entrepreneurial geniuses ("parachuting from 5000ft". "Wow, what a rush, wind rushing past my face". "I can see my limo from up here". "Time to open my chute". "Chute wont opn". "try spare"."sh*t". "I bqeath my house in Bev Hills 2 my mo"...) - but how many people like that are there out there?

I wonder what's next. Perhaps EZBIZsa?

Mom, I'm home!

2009-04-12T04:23:00.000-07:00

Back from the old country (South Africa) where my fledgling company is a little less flightless but still a way from taking off. Lots of admin taken care of, though, so that's a good thing. Business cards, premises (of sorts), fax line, computer and ADSL and many other things taken care of. No mentors found yet and we're still looking for a decent CEO, PHP/MySQL guru and sales/marketing director who want a piece of the pie. It's real hard to find decent help these days - especially when they want a salary!

I have also been reading up a storm lately. I had the opportunity to read "The Beermat Entrepreneur" by Mike Southon and Chris West during my travels and would recommend it for any budding entrepreneur. It is short (which is a nice change), packed full of useful info (with minimal bloat) and is dotted throughout with easy to find statements that let you find the part of the book you are looking for without having to reread entire pictures. It's also well written by people who know what they are talking about. It helped inspire me and has gone a long way to making me think that I can actually put together a company that can work. They have a website too (at www.beermat.biz) which is well worth checking out.

I have also been reading a few of the "Dummies" series of books (although I am sure it's not professional to admit that) and found them to be quite decent, especially for newbies. I guess that's who they are meant for, after all. "Advanced Selling for Dummies" by Ralph R. Roberts is a good introduction to selling techniques and he offers great advice for salespeople - and let's face it, we're all salespeople, no matter what business we're in.

One thing I noticed was a patent lack of books on offering good service in South African bookstores. Obviously it is not high on the list of priorities for most South African companies (quite evident when you deal with them) and this is a pity. In contrast, a Borders bookstore I went to in Melbourne had several rows of books about offering good service. I guess the market is ripe for service-orientated companies in good ol' SA.

The Newbies Guide to Making Your Website Work for You

2009-02-15T06:25:00.000-08:00

1. Make your site easy to read - don't have looooooooooooooooooooong pages or small text. On the other hand, make sure to include a fair amount of "meat" (juicy content) on every page. Be sure to make the site appear "spacious" as well as it is more relaxing to view.

2. Make sure that it is easy to navigate. The navigation menu should be easy to find and include as many links to your content as possible. You should also try to qualify your visitors through your menu and provide only the information they need.

3. Avoid fancy design fads - things like Flash movies have their place - if kept small - and can be great on entertainment websites, but many unsuspecting website owners have been convinced by their web designers that a Flash website is best for them - not least because they are more expensive than a traditional DHTML one and the designer makes more. The truth is that they can just annoy the average visitor who is trying to find out about what you offer and then has to sit around waiting for the movies to load.

4. Have something to say. People are viewing your website to find out about something and if you can give them what they want quickly and concisely, they will most probably stay on your site.

5. Engage your website visitor. Give them something to think about or do. Do things a little differently can also serve to hold their attention.

6. Get their e-mail address by offering to send them more information or a subscription to your newsletter. Either way, be sure to let them know that they are signing up to receive regular e-mails from you. Make your e-mails/newsletters interesting, useful and concise. However, if you are going to start an e-mail.newsletter campaign, you must do it regularly and keep it up.

7. Find out what your website visitors want and what they think. Ask them for their opinions or test new ideas on them through short surveys or feedback forms.

8. Blog. Tell your potential customers what you are doing, thinking and planning. Blogs are an excellent marketing tool (even if many think that they are passe) and can help you come across as a real person, not just a name. However, be sure to blog regularly if you are going to do it.

9. Use multimedia (sound and video) if you can, but don't include critical information in it - some people couldn't be bothered to wait for the sound byte or movie to load. Multimedia is nice because the website visitor/potential customer can see or hear you, making the experience more personal and adding a face or voice to the name.

10. Promote your website in everything from your e-mail signature, your business card, letterheads, advertising ... everywhere you can. Ask existing customers to go to your website and then get their feedback about what they think of it.

Like anything, you have to work at having a prominent website. Don't think you can have one designed for you and then sit back and the business will roll in. However, with some patience and dedication, you will start to see results.

My Website and Design Tools

2009-01-22T07:16:00.000-08:00

I am a web developer and artist (well, I'd like to think I am) and spend most of my time building websites and producing art for those sites or for display on the web. A few years ago I was faced with a dilemma. As a newbie web developer, I didn't have the money to buy the "big boys" on the block (Macromedia/Adobe) and I didn't fancy pirate copies, so I decided to look around for alternatives. What I found was that there are alternatives and although some require a different way of thinking, they are very capable. So, without further ado, here's my list ...

Webuilder ****
HTML/CSS/PHP IDE/Text Editor
I use Webuilder for all my coding. It's a great piece of software that is reasonably priced and has loads of functionality. It has all of the features you would expect from a code editor; brace matching, snippets, built-in FTP (although I use Filezilla instead), code hints and completion, previews, powerful find and replace functions and a lot more. There are a lot of similar products out there, but for the price Webuilder is just what I need.

Find out more about Webuilder here.

Filezilla FTP *****
FTP Program
This FTP program is free and is really great. It is safe, reliable and is constantly being upgraded.

Xara Xtreme ****
Vector Art Program
Xara Xtreme is an amazing vector editor that makes creating things with vectors a real pleasure. It has been really well thought out and is a pleasure to use. For instance, colour gradients, drop shadoes and transparency gradients are done with a single click and drag. Where Xara really shines, however, is when it comes to manipulating vectors. You don't have to press any buttons and can drag lines to bend them which makes creating vectors so much easier and intuitive. It also allows you to build animated GIFs and Flash movies (simple ones) as well having the capacity to generate entire web pages in perfect DHTML from an image. Really nifty. It has one or two drawbacks (like no spiral tool and exporting images with bleeding edges sometimes), which detract from it being perfect, but in time am sure they will be overcome.

Version 5 has just been released and although it has no major improvements, it does offer amazing website building functionality. Taking the tools from Xara's Web Designer software, it allows one to build websites using design tools alone, updating duplicated elements of all pages and then exporting the entire site in standards compliant XHTML with a CSS file. Plus, you can build simple Flash movies and animated GIFs right on the page and integrate them without having to do any coding. I am will be looking into using this as a template system with dynamic content and if it proves neat and realiable then it's the way to go, I think. Version 5 also has loads more text handling functions, which is one area that Xara was lagging behind its competition in the past.

Check it out at Xara's Website

RealDraw Pro ****
Vector and Bitmap Art Program
I found this program after dredging through the Internet for vector art programs and I am happy that I did. It is really unique and although it is ostensibly a vector art program, it allows you to paint directly onto your vector art, making it a dinkum fusion of vector and bitmap editor. It also has amazing effects that I have never seen in any other art program, allowing you to illuminate and skin your vector objects and even give them bump maps. Plus, at the low price, it's a steal! Really worth checking this one out. The only thing missing is greater control over resizing using entered values and better vector handle control. Version 5 has some great features like liquid vectors that allow you to "smear" shapes. Really interesting way to work! With it's lighting and textures, you can create amazing graphics in no time at all that would take loads of time and effort in other programs.

Find out more about RealDraw here.

Photobrush****
Bitmap Editor
Photobrush is made by Mediachance, the same guys who created RealDraw and it's ostensibly a photo and image editor. It has amazing functionality and loads of filters and tools (including painting and bitmap editing tools) and for the price is a real bargain. To be honest, it is not Photoshop, but if you compare the price, it offers a lot more value. I use it to tidy up scanned pictures and create effects and it does what I want quickly and easily. So, if you are in the market for something like Photoshop and don't have the hundreds of dollars to throw at it, why not try out Photobrush.

Find out more about Photobrush here.

2009 - A Year of Hope

2009-01-22T06:06:00.000-08:00

There seems to be so much goodwill out there with respect to developing South Africa, regardless of the apparently hamstrung South African government. Many in the private sector seem to be trying to build our country into something worthwhile, which really is commendable. It is inspiring to see websites like globalsouthafricans.org and southafrica.info encouraging those with the means and/or inclination to get involved to do so and make a difference. In light of the recent inaugeration of Barack Obama, wouldn't it be great to feel proud of our country as the Americans do? Unfortunately, I think that for that to happen in South Africa, we would need an inspiring and unifying leader ... like Mr. Obama. The mob of leaders we have now in South Africa (who will be there for the foreseeable future) however, are quite the opposite; divisive, antagonistic and aloof. Nonetheless, if we South Africans can each do our part , we can improve the country and make it the great place we know it can become. Each one of us need only help and inspire two or three people to have a marked effect on the country. Remember that each life touched and improved will lead to a better future for all of us.

In my view, to do this we must start somewhere and my opinion is that we have to put South Arica to work. To this end, we need to do the following;

1. Educate people and train them so that they have useful skills,
2. Provide finance and support for entrepreneurs with viable ideas,
3. Provide ongoing support and training to help entrepreneurs build their businesses up.

When people have jobs, they have self-respect and the respect of those around them, as well as being able to support their loved ones. Granted, this is a bad time for business with the global financial crisis driving the world economy into the doldrums, unemployment is sure to rise. However, those of us with jobs can still help those without. We can get involved.

I am busy putting plans in place that we at Paladin can execute in the coming months to do our small bit for those who need help. As to what those plans are, I am still busy figuring out the logistics of it all, but I'll post our plans here soon. Sure, our efforts will be limited to start with but I am confident that they will expand in time to become substantial one day.

Do you have plans to contribute? If so, let me know.

Rant 1: Crime in South Africa

2008-12-23T00:11:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine was robbed at gunpoint recently, which has brought home one of the biggest problems in South Africa - the unchecked crime. As much as I love South Africa and her people, I am repulsed by the crime and have been for a long time. It is a stain on my country and it is the only reason that I will not raise my daughter in South Africa. I can live with high taxes, sporadic electricity, inept parastatals and no decent ADSL, but the crime is one thing that I cannot stomach.

We citizens can help fight crime with neighbourhood watches and supporting the local police but what is the use when there is a patent lack of leadership on this count from our government, who have been absolutely useless at checking it. The fact that we had a person like Jackie Selebi as the Commissioner of Police (and, laughably, the head of Interpol too) for so long is testament to the disdain that Mbeki's government had for law and order. But now the rot has set in and it will be very difficult to get out of the hole Mbeki and his oligarchs have dug for us. Zuma speaks of turning the tide on crime but those are brave words. I really hope he does what he says and it's not just more political flatulence.

And while promises are made and commissions come and go, our crime rate remains horrendously high and corruption permeates every level of government and business. I know you have seen the statistics before but here they are again. According to SAPS in 2007-2008 there were over 18 500 reported murders, about the same number of attempted murders, about 36 000 reported rapes. That's 73 000 people whose lives have been destroyed in one year! In 10 years that's 370 000 people! Then there are all the other crimes; indecent assault, assault, robbery ... the list is long but distinguished. Surely we don't have to put up with this. And I am not just talking about the rich white folks in their walled fortresses who endlessly bleat about the crime but whose complaints fall on deaf ears ("After all, Whitey must suffer for the apartheid attrocities!"). I am talking more specifically about those who have very little, living in the townships and who risk their lives every day to get to work or school and home again. What about them? Who is looking after them? The government sure as hell isn't!

I have seen many pro-South African websites and blogs lambasting people who have left the country for greener pastures elsewhere and I must say that I disagree with their expat-bashing. Many of those people who left were victims of crime or their lives were touched by crime in some way and I don't blame them for leaving.

Then to add insult to injury our government brags about the increase in the number of police to be employed to make sure that the tourists are safe in 2010 while their own people, the people who pay taxes to fund their luxurious, insulated lifestyles have been begging for an increase in police numbers for over a decade - all to no avail. I am sorry but the government has a duty to protect its citizens as enshrined in the Bill of Rights and as far as I am concerned they have failed miserably. Perhaps I should just leave the country for good and come back as a tourist - then I'd be looked after. Perhaps the expats have something there ...

I am South African and I am dedicated to doing my part to improve the country but I am not going to shy away from the truth that the government has failed to protect its population and as such does not deserve my respect. They are so busy squabbling over the spoils that they have lost touch with life in the real world and I think that it is the duty of business, small and large, to not only do good but to regularly kick the government in the a$$ and tell them to wake up! The time for suffering in silence is over; our leaders must stop their pathetic power struggles and start actually running the country, eliminating corruption and fighting crime ... which is what they were elected, and what they are being paid, to do.

There, rant over!

Bah Humbug!

2008-12-22T07:54:00.000-08:00

A quick 'n nasty cartoon guy that I did in Xara Xtreme. Reminds me of ... me.

The Life of a Small Business - Christmas 2008

2008-12-22T06:23:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's already Christmas.

Mad Bob Mugabe is still in power.
Decent, affordable, non-Telkom ADSL has still not reached South Africa's shores.
Neither has PayPal for that matter.
Some things don't change.

I was excited about Payfast and their promise of PayPal-like facilities, which will go a long way towards encouraging e-commerce in South Africa, but as of today they haven't set up their credit card processing facility. I can just imagine all the hoops they have to jump through.

Well, EZBIZsa is all set up and ready to go. It's looking awesome, if I do say so myself and works well with a decent ADSL connection (hence my interest in seeing as many people getting ADSL as possible in SA). It has been a long year of building, rebuilding and tweaking ... but in the end the journey has been worth it. I am just waiting to see what the reaction to the site will be.

So now it's time to proceed from our development phase to our execution phase, with all of the excitement that it entails. It's quite scary to think that we only get one shot at this and if we duff it up, all that hard work will be for nothing. Flashbacks to my previous entrepreneurial attempts are starting to make my palms sweat. But we are positive and motivated and about to set out on an adventure in the best country in the world, dealing with the best people in the world. What could go wrong?

We are planning a marketing blitz from February 2009 and the hope is that we can peak the interest of the small business community fairly quickly. Our initial marketing efforts will be fairly imaginative as we are hamstrung by a limited budget, but as we proceed, so we will become more audacious. Look out for some hair-raising spectacles! (Is it illegal to streak through the streets?)

I have just finished ready Richard Branson's book "Business Stripped Bare" which has gone a long way towards reaffirming my faith in businessperson-kind. I am so happy to see that one can be successful without being a pompous, self-serving oligarch. Inspired by what I read there, we will be dedicating ourselves to making sure that we look after our customers, the environment and the community. Sounds naive, but I believe it is possible.

So there we have it. We are on the verge of famousness! If you have a small business and want to know more about EZBIZsa, feel free to contact us. And have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

A list of truths ...

2008-12-09T22:01:00.000-08:00

A list of "truths" ...

1) Indecision is the key to flexibility.
2) You cannot tell which way the train went by looking at the track.
3) There is absolutely no substitute for a genuine lack of preparation.
4) Happiness is merely the remission of pain.
5) Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
6) Sometimes too much drink is not enough.
7) The facts, although interesting, are irrelevant.
8) The careful application of terror is also a form of communication.
9) Someone who thinks logically is a nice contrast to the real world.
10) Things are more like they are today than they ever have been before.
11) Anything worth fighting for is worth fighting dirty for.
12) Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.
13) Friends may come and go, but enemies accumulate.
14) I have seen the truth and it makes no sense.
15) Suicide is the most sincere form of self-criticism.
16) All things being equal, fat people use more soap.
17) If you can smile when things go wrong, you have someone in
mind to blame.
18) One-seventh of you life is spent on Monday.
19) By the time you can make ends meet, they move the ends.
20) Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious.
21) The more you run over a dead cat, the flatter it gets.
22) There is always one more imbecile than you counted on.
23) This is as bad as it can get, but don't bet on it.
24) Never wrestle with a pig: You both get all dirty, and the pig likes
it.
25) The trouble with life is, you're halfway through it before you realize
it's a "do it yourself" thing.

How true!

E=mc2

2008-11-18T08:50:00.000-08:00

As an entrepreneur, one of the biggest questions for me was “what is important for ensuring the success of my business?” The Internet is full of articles and advice – “5 Essential Steps To Successful This”, “8 Must-Do Steps To An Effective That” … – but it can all become overwhelming.

This got me thinking as to what the quintessential elements were that I had to focus on to run my small business effectively. There must be a single “A-ha!” set of guidelines, I thought, that are easy to remember, logical and most of all, effective and would help me focus on what was important for the well-being of my company. Focussing on the “big picture” is especially important for small business owners who have to constantly multi-task to get everything done. In my case I got so bogged down in the details that I lost sight of the big picture – even after setting time aside for daily planning and time management.

So, after reading all I could on running a small business, I came up with the following little equation;

e=mc²

Look familiar? Most probably it does because it was developed by Albert Einstein to explain the mysteries of the universe. My equation doesn’t pretend to be so ambitious. It’s just an easy way for me to keep in the forefront of my mind what I should be focussed on every day.

As you may remember from maths and science, the letters in the equation represent values, and the values in my equation are as follows;

execution = marketing.customers.cash flow

Let’s take a look at each part of the equation in a little more detail.

execution

Nothing to do with shooting people; I am talking here about business execution … doing business. I use the word execution to remind myself that I must the results I am after are through the execution of my plans through action, not just talking about it or spending all my time planning. Planning has its place and is immensely important, but it shouldn’t cut into execution time.

marketing (we’ll lump sales in here as well)

Marketing is used to spread the word about what you offer and sales is all about getting people to give their money to you in exchange for your product and/or service. They are different but both crucial to your execution. Getting new business, especially for a young company, should take up a fair amount of your time and be your absolute focus – although, don’t make the mistake of focussing on this alone.

Originally I confused advertising with marketing. I thought that if I slap an ad into the Yellow Pages and my local trade mags and classifieds, it would be enough. I tried this and it kept me afloat, barely, but business was a struggle.

Then I switched to making my marketing a far more active endeavour, and things changed for the better. And it wasn’t expensive. Active marketing is about finding leads through the Internet, through networking, through getting out there and talking to everyone you can. It’s about meeting people, making friends and building relationships.

Once I identify my leads, I try to stay in touch with them and entice, cajole and guide them into becoming customers through my sales techniques. Selling is an art in itself but is nothing to be feared. It takes dedication and practice (along with some guts initially) but almost anyone can learn to be a good salesperson. I am still learning not there yet, but I have improved markedly.

Once your leads buy from your and become customers, then you proceed to the next part of the equation.

customers

Many companies focus all their energies on getting new customers and don’t realise the value of existing ones. Companies with bad service are a dime-a-dozen nowadays, which is unfortunate as it is not difficult to take care of existing customers. And taking care of your customers can have huge rewards; you can sell other products to satisfied customers, you can get their feedback to help you improve what you offer and best of all, satisfied customers become your best promotional tool through word-of-mouth!

It is estimated that keeping a customer is up to 9 times cheaper than getting a new one. And there is no mystery to customer care. It’s all about just making the effort to keep in contact with your customers, listening to what they are saying and making them feel like you care about them and their problems. It is especially important to look after the customers that complain. In most cases, if you sort them out and they will become your most loyal fans!

cash flow

There are two sides to this coin, income and expenses.

First, and most importantly, you have to make sure that you are not only selling, but also that the money is actually finding its way into your bank account. Every small business owner will attest to the difficulties they have collecting the money owed to them. For this reason you must prepare for this and set aside time to phone, prod and threaten if needs be to get what is owed to you.

On the other side of the coin are your expenses. The quickest way to shooting yourself in the foot in business is by neglecting your expenses and letting them run amok. It’s important to keep tabs on expenses and to make sure that you set some money aside for a rainy day.

e=mc²

So there you have it. Obviously you will need to spend time on other aspects of running your business, but this equation might help you keep your eye on the ball. I have printed it out and stuck all over my office so that I can remind myself what I should be doing all the time. It looks messy, but it really helps.

PayFast South Africa's Answer to Paypal?

2008-10-18T04:01:00.000-07:00

It would seem that we in South Africa, left out in the cold by Paypal, will enjoy Paypal-like services with a local flavour of that mighty Ebay-owned online favourite in the form of local start-up PayFast - brought to you by the same guy who started Bidorbuy (South Africa's Ebay).

Although still not at a point where users can accept credit cards through it yet, PayFast promises to be a boon for e-commerce in South Africa ... and it's high time. In it's present form, one can send and receive money through the PayFast system. All that's needed is your name, e-mail address and South African bank account number. There is no word on exactly when online vendors will be able to accept credit cards through it and we hope that it isn't too long.

For more about PayFast, check out its website here.

We have been lagging behind the rest of the world as far as everything virtual is concerned and it's time to play catchup! I hope that PayFast turns out to be worthwhile, as it could really be an asset to small business in South Africa.

Characteristics of a Good (Business) Website

2008-09-22T09:51:00.000-07:00

Do you know what the characteristics of a good website are?

Opinions differ (quite heatedly, sometimes) but here are a few of my insights into what a good small business website should be;

Firstly, it should be designed to offer useful, concise information about the products and/or services offered by the small business, how to contact them, where they are located and perhaps some background information. Sites no longer need to be "Flashy" or stuffed full of pages and pages of information (relevant or not). We have, as a community, matured beyond that. Relevance is the key.

Most importantly, business websites should be easy to use and navigate. Time is money and customers or prospects don't want to waste their time looking through a confusing website. They want to find the information they need quickly.

They shouldn't be "Graphics heavy" and shouldn't use Flash (well, perhaps a little is okay). Graphics and Flash files slow the site down and delays on the Internet make people want to leave that site. Don't get me wrong, graphics can enhance a site and should be used, but overuse is a site-killer!

This brings me to the next point. They should be fast, in other words, they should load quickly. People will wait for perhaps three to five seconds before moving away from a site if they can't see anything happening.

A useful site is a popular site. Hey, just look at Google! Useful and streamlined. If your website is built well, it can be pleasure to visit. Actually it should be a pleasure to visit.

Online Newsletters

2008-09-22T06:57:00.000-07:00

Using tools like newsletters you can really improve your business relationships with your customers. Obviously, different types of small businesses will derive different benefits from the use of newsletters (and different levels of benefit, too), but all businesses should benefit from implementing a newsletter system in some way or other with a well-planned newsletter campaign.

Let's take a small hotel, for example. Asking satisfied guests if they want to subscribe to the hotel's online newsletter will help the hotel stay in touch with them long after their holiday or business trip has ended. When the hotel's ex-guest received the newsletter every two-months or so, they are subtly reminded about the venue and the (hopefully) pleasant memories of their stay there will come flooding back. Ongoing reinforcement like that will mean that the ex-guest will be sure to book at the same hotel again if they are travelling to that area.

Even a business with only a few, long-standing customers can benefit from a newsletter. Take an engineering company that supplies a few customers that they have had for a decade or so. Chances are that they have built up a really good rapport with their customers but a newsletter will give the latter a glimpse inside the small business; what they are planning (as a way to encourage future orders), what they have achieved, perhaps even a short, useful articles about some aspect of the business that they are involved in. It makes the relationship more personal.

This is not to say that newsletters can replace face-to-face contact. Anyone who proposes that is a fool. However, it sure can reinforce an already established relationship.

Like a well conceived and well built website, the newsletter must be concise and to the point. No-one is going to wade through reams and reams for text to find one or two nuggets of information. Content must also be relevant. Everyone loves receiving a page full of dirty jokes, but they will quickly forget who it came from. Stick to what you know about; your business and your industry. A little humour can be a nice touch, but be sure to make it tasteful. Crude jokes can cheapen your work.

Newsletters must also be sent regularly ... but not too often. Once every month (if you have enough content) or once every two months is good. The important thing is to be consistent. Don't send out your newsletter for three months and then stop. That will make you look unprofessional. Also, use the time between newsletters to gather content and write it. Don't leave it for the last minute (easier said than done, I know). A well crafted and well thought out newsletter can become a talking point and even establish you as an authority in your industry after a while.

Newsletters can also be used for cross-promotion purposes.

In short, newsletters can give you an edge if they are concise, relevant, informative, regular and professional. If done right, they can be a real boon.

Websites for Small Business

2008-09-22T06:12:00.000-07:00

Many small business owners in South Africa (and elsewhere) see a website as an unnecessary expense. They can't see how a website can contribute to their bottom line. It's a nice-to-have instead of a must-have. There are loads of misconceptions about business websites out there, and I'd like to take a moment to rebut some that I have encountered recently.

"I have enough customers. I don't need a website to get any more". Obviously the small business owner (SBO) who said that thought that websites are only useful as nets cast into cyber space to scoop up new clients - a common misconception. And really, who doesn't need more customers? A well managed, well-designed website should be used to retain customers and build relationships as well as finding new ones. Being a smart person, you are most probably already aware of the fact that it costs between 5 and 9 times (depending on who you talk to) more to get a new customer than it costs to retain an existing one. So it makes sense to use web-based tools (part of your website) to keep existing customers informed as well as attracting new ones. What do I mean by this? Well, tools like newsletters are great at keeping in touch with existing customers and if you make your website useful to existing customers, they will keep coming back to it. How do you make it useful? Information, information, information. Here are some examples. If you sell houses be sure to dedicate a section on your site about the step-by-step procedure that a buyer will have to go through to buy a house, a guide to costs involved and other similar tips. You can also write helpful articles and use them in newsletters. If you own a restaurant, why not have a section on your site where you post some signature recipes, as well as tips on where to get the best produce and cooking implements.

"A website is too expensive for my business right now." Granted, websites can be an expensive exercise for SBOs that are just making ends meet and it's hard for them to justify the outlay. A decent web site, designed by someone who knows what they are doing can set you back at least R2000,00 (that's a few hundred US$ for you non-Saffers), although the price tag will be a lot higher if it's a decent site with a decent toolset, and this can take a big bite out of your profit. An alternative is a site like EZBIZsa that allows you to pay monthly, allows you the freedom to build and update your site and has all of the features and tools you would find in a reeeeeaaaaaaallly expensive piece of online software (sorry, that was a pitch, I know). You can try to build a site yourself for free (Google Sites is a good example) although those sites are very limited as far as what they offer. Not bad if you just want an online presence, though.

"I have a brochure that I hand out to customers, so why do I need a website?" A well-designed website is so much more than an online brochure - although many people think that it's just an online version of their brochure and treat it as such.
Sure, a website shares some common elements with brochures and a large part of a website's function is to display and promote as is that of a brochure. But if set up well and equipped with decent functionality your website can actually help you and your bottom line. Contact forms, interactivity, surveys, newsletters ... all of these and more can be used to great effect to build relationships with customers, find out what they want and/or need and portray your small business in a professional light. Plus, you can change your website at any time, which you can't do with a brochure.

"I'm too stupid to use set up/use a website." Nonsense. You must just use the tools that suit your abilities. If you don't know anything about building websites, sign up for a free website builder like Google Sites or, better still, a website builder like EZBIZsa that is purpose-built to get small businesses online and are easy to use as well. These website builders have been built from the ground up to be easy-to-use for Internet novices. If you can answer your e-mails, you should have no problem using a good website builder. Or, if you are interested in the Internet and you are even a little creative, why not try your hand at coding (HTML to start with)? It really isn't too difficult. Heck, if I can do it, anyone can.

In short, a business website is a useful and cost-effective tool if it is used in the right way; not as an online brochure, but as a viable and pro-active tool.

The Life of a Small Business - Almost Ready

2008-08-30T09:30:00.000-07:00

Almost there ...

It's been quite a week, and we are edging ever closer to being able to get up-and-running. The website (EZBIZsa in case you forgot) is ready, or as close to being ready as it is going to be, which is a relief. We've been showing the site around and so far, we have had good reactions to the way it looks. Our "Beta" customers, who have helped us iron out problems and test new features, seem pretty happy with the site. This "Beta" phase has been great for market validation and now we must try to rope more customers in to try the site out.

Online Payment Processing

We have signed up with Netcash to handle our payment processing and they seem very good so far. It took ages for them to approve everything, but I have set up the credit card payment system and tested it and it seems to work suitably well. They also handle debit orders, which is a bonus - especially in South Africa. So, if you are looking for a company in South Africa to handle your online payment processing, talk to Netcash. Tell them Greg from EZBIZsa sent you ... actually don't.

In case you don't know, a payment processing company (usually called a 3rd party processor) allows you to accept credit cards (and often other payment methods) through "your website". People who visit your site click on a link when they want to pay you and are whisked off the the payment processor company's website where they can pay with a credit card. The payment processor company takes a cut of the sale and usually charges a fee as well and the sends the money to you at the end of the month. The advantage of this is that you don't have to set up a payment gateway yourself, especially if you are a small business. Plus their website is secure (or it should be, at least), which means that you don't have to pay for all the extra security features you would need on your site if you if you were going to handle the transactions yourself. There are a few large international payment processors including Paypal, 2CheckOut, Reg.Net, Fastspring, Alertpay, Moneybookers and Plimus, as well as some others. However, there have been bad reports about most of them. I have tried some out and had a good look at others ... ho, hum. Many of them whack you for over 10% of your sale price and you have to charge US$. Paypal would be perfect except they haven't got around to including South Africa in their system. That's why I was really stoked to find Netcash. They are local so they know the "lay of the land", they are small enough to get an answer out of them if you need to and their service so far has been good.

Sales and Marketing ... In the Works

I am starting to look at sales and marketing now. We have a limited budget, so we will have to get creative. The term "guerilla marketing" springs to mind, although that can be hit or miss. Whichever way I look at it, it looks like we will have to get our hands dirty. I hate selling (hey, most people do) but it looks like I am going to be selling my guts out in the coming months. We'll have to if we want to break into the market. Hell, if that doesn't get me over my fear of selling, what will? It will be a good thing, though, to interact with potential customers and to read the market first-hand.

We'll be using a combination of telesales, recruiting independent consultants to sell our product for us and trying to set up partnerships with companies that also service small businesses. Obviously we will use trial and error to find the right mix, but this strategy plus a sustained publicity drive should help us maximise our exposure and allow us to build our sales up - as well as a healthy "buzz" as well.

The Life of a Small Business - The Story So Far

2008-08-27T07:56:00.000-07:00

Being a blog, I thought why not record my experiences as my partner and I start up our own small business ... a little like "Reality TV", except without the TV. More like "Reality Blogging". Okay, so there will most probably be less intrigue and a lot less in-fighting, less bitching and moaning and less gossip (well, I hope so anyway).

The Story So Far ...

I have been working on an Internet program called EZBIZsa for over a year now that is finally at a stage that I am confident enough to sell it, although to be honest, confidence is not my strongest trait.

With heaps of motivation, I formed a close corporation earlier in the year with three friends, but due to the fact that I was of the opinion that two of them were not pulling their weight, we disbanded in about the middle of the year. I sank a lot of my savings into that attempt, much to my chagrin.

Now, the remaining friend and myself have formed another CC and we are about ready to start operating ... finally. I have decided to try to get the company up and running with as little financial input as possible from either of us and so we'll be going the guerrilla marketing route. We have been thinking about approaching an investor or venture capital company but we want to try to do things on our own initially. No sense giving the company away if we don't need to.

For the record, I have had two small businesses in the past, neither of which were very successful - mainly because I knew very little about running a business and even less about the industry I was getting into. However, I learned some valuable lessons in those ventures, lessons that I will be applying to my new venture in the coming months. Primary among the mistakes I made in the past were;

I went into a business I knew nothing about.
My partners and I in both businesses did no market validation to find out what our prospective customers needed and how we could help them.
Although my partners and I in the first business I was part of had financing, we directed it into the wrong areas; offices, advertising and agents. We should have built up the best team we could with the money, a team of experienced veterans in the industry that had earned their stripes in the trenches.
We had several employees in the first business I was in and I treated them as friends instead of employees, so when it can time to give orders, they didn't respond well.
I was not confident enough to promote my businesses as well as I could have at every opportunity.
In the second business I went into, I did not have equal share in the business with my partner and so he ran the show. That left me dangling in the wind with almost no control over the company's direction. The result was that I wasn't motivated to make it work.
We thought that advertising was the answer instead of building solid relationships with customers and getting them to "sell" us. I know now that advertising works to entrench an established brand. It does little good in the early stages of a company's life.

I have done a lot of reading about entrepreneurship, both on-line and in books, and I have discovered some earth-shattering information that has turned my impression about starting up a company on its head. Things that I thought were important are not so, apparently, and things I had not really thought about are critical to my success. I would heartily recommend that if you are thinking about starting up a small business, you do as much reading as you can. The Internet is full of decent resources (although, admittedly, a lot of it is repetitive and seems a little "iffy") that can give you a lot of guidance. Obviously take everything you read with a pinch of salt. Don't trust everything you read, and remember that most resources are intended for the US market, so many details don't apply to us Saffers. However, there is enough to help you figure out which way to go.

If you are looking for good books on entrepreneurship, one I found very good was "A Good Hard Kick in the Ass" by Rob Adams. If you look past the venture capital "bumf" in the book (the writer headed up a US venture capital outfit), the information is relevant and concise. It really did get me thinking in the right way.

By the way, if you know of any other books on entreepreneurship that contain pertinent and practical information, please let me know.

The Cogs of the South African Economy

2008-08-22T08:52:00.000-07:00

I have always thought of small business as the cogs of the economy's vast and very complex machinery; little, unremarkable parts of the whole that churn away on their own, far removed from the grand corporations that are the face of business. On their own, small businesses appear insignificant when compared to the huge multi-national companies, but theirs is strength in numbers, and to me they appear to form the foundation atop of which the rest of the business world perches. So I decided to dig into whether this was in fact the case.

The US seems to be the country with the best statistics (obviously) and taking a look at company types there, are currently about 19 million self-employed people along with another four and a half million small businesses with less than 20 employees. The number of companies with more than 20 employees is in the hundreds of thousands in contrast.

South Africa would, I think, have an even more pronounced contrast. Our companies are either very big or very small, and in the case of the latter there are vast numbers of hawkers, shopkeepers, restaurateurs and other entrepreneurs that make up a bulk of our economy. As for a comparison of total income generated, those millions of small businesses would produce more income than the larger companies, I would imagine.

And for South Africa, small business is the key to a brighter future for the country as it is only through entrepreneurship that we can empower our people. The government tries (so they say) but when a person is earning their own living, they have self-respect, they can feed and educate their families and themselves and they can spend money to grease the wheels of commerce. Small business is the key to our future and encouraging it is the only way that South Africa will find its way to prosperity ... and not become just another wreck of a country like most of the rest of the continent.

The upshot of all of this is that we have to get South Africans to work. This is easier said than done and it will involve considerable investment of time and money. I guess that we could have used the skills of all those whites who fled the country to help in this cause as they had skills and experience that would be invaluable now. But they aren't coming back and it's no use crying over spilt milk. It's up to all of us to take a stand and start helping out if we want to see the country succeed. We all need to shape the cogs of the economy and get them spinning in the big SA business machine.

What, Exactly, Is a Small Business?

2008-08-22T07:39:00.000-07:00

People bandy the terms small business, SME and micro-enterprise around a lot these days without knowing exactly what they are. I always thought that a small business was one run by one or two people from their spare bedroom or garage, and that small business was a loosely-used, umbrella term (somewhat like "web 2.0" or "the flu") that included micro-enterprise, partnership, sole-trader, as well as being a large part of the SME amalgamation as well. I was quite surprised, therefore, to discover that there are definitions for what a small business is.

Obviously, the term "small business" is defined slightly differently in various parts of the world. In the South African context (according to the National Small Business Act No. 102. 27 November 1996, as amended by the National Small Business Amendment Bill published in the Government Gazette on 27 March 2003), a small business is, generally-speaking, a business that employs 50 or fewer people on a full-time basis, has an annual turnover less than R10-million and has between R2-million and R4.5-million in fixed assets, depending on the industry. It goes without saying that these numbers are a lot bigger than I had imagined.

Smaller than the "small business" are "very small businesses" and "micro-enterprises", both of which have been defined in the legislation listed above. The "very small business" employs 10 people or fewer and has a turnover of R1-million to R2-million or less and the "micro-enterprise" supports 5 or fewer persons while generating less than R150 000 in turnover.

So there you have it.

Small*Biz*Blog