Posted on

Smarta’s checklist for How to start a business

How to start a business: a checklist Today seems to be the day for checklists. First there was Jot-it, a wonderful way to help remember what to buy when out shopping. Now we have a checklist for How to start a business from Smarta.

They now have so much useful information on their website that the list below is full of links to their own pages. Which reminds me of their gallery of 500+ business plans sourced from Business Plan Pro.

It must qualify as the ultimate to-do list for starting up a business.

tick 2 What kind of business should I start?

There are loads of options out there for all of you who want to become self-employed. Click on the links below to explore each.

  1. Start a part-time business.
  2. Your own business idea – a completely new product or service. Read up on idea protection if you’re following this path.
  3. Start a franchise.
  4. Buy a business.
  5. Buy a license to sell an existing product.
  6. Do you want to start alone or would it be better to find a business partner?

tick 2 How do I research my business idea?

  1. Is your idea viable? You need to do a rough working of your costs versus the money you can make from sales. How much will people pay for your product? Use this guide for more info and ask people who will give you an honest opinion.
  2. Is there demand for your business? This will take more time. You need to do market research and work out who your target customers will be.
  3. Can you afford to start the business you have in mind or find the money to do it?
  4. Research your competition.
  5. Find at least three unique selling points (USPs). If you can’t, think of a new business idea, because you won’t be able to lure customers away from your already-established competition. This feature will help you determine USPs.
  6. Do some preliminary research into suppliers and distributors – a bit of Googling, a few casual phonecalls to potential suppliers, and ask other businesses in your sector – so you know how easy it is to get the materials and products you need and how much those items will cost.
  7. Find out what price people will pay for your product and what your business model will be. Do market research and use this advice section.
  8. Try making a few sales if you can via eBay or however you can – just a bit of testing to see how the market responds. Follow up on other ways to test your market.

tick 2 Writing a business plan

Writing a business plan might seem like a long and boring task, but it forces you to think about your idea rigorously, highlights potential show-stopping problems and makes you take a hard look at how much money you’re going to need. Use our 500+ free business plan templates for guidance.

  1. Read our advice on business plans.
  2. Decide where your business will be based – start at home if you can (here’s why). If you need commercial premises, look at this advice section and research property prices in your area to include an approximate cost in your budget. Factor in business rates and utility bills.
  3. Write your business plan.
  4. Some details will need to be updated as you complete the next few steps – or you might need to complete the next few steps before finishing your business plan. That’s fine – a business plan should be a live document, updated regularly.
  5. Once you’ve done your business plan, make a project plan what you need to achieve by which (target) dates to get you through the next steps. This is an absolute must!

tick 2 How can I finance my business?

  1. Work out what savings, income and solutions like remortgages you can use to finance your business. Warning: do not put all your eggs in this one basket. Five in six businesses fail in their first year – we don’t want to be pessimistic, but we also don’t want you to end up homeless if this doesn’t work out.
  2. Read our section on business finance to look at all the options available to you.
  3. Talk to an accountant. Here’s advice on how to find one.
  4. Talk to your bank manager, business plan in hand, to find out what kind of loan you will be able to access. Make it clear you’re still pre-start-up and just doing research at this stage. Watch this video for advice on what the banks are looking for. Watch this video on the EFG to see if you’re eligible for that too.
  5. Look into which small business grants you might be eligible for – you can start by searching our grants database.
  6. Redraft your business plan according to the finance you have available.

tick 2 Prepare: business training, skills and support

  1. Read our advice section on business skills and training.
  2. Start reading business books relevant to your sector to get a good feel for how it operates and how you should enter the market.
  3. Do any courses or training you think you need.
  4. Join relevant networks and find a mentor if you can. Look at our advice on networking and mentoring to find out more.

tick 2 Getting the right people on board

  1. Find an accountant if you haven’t already.
  2. Assess your skills set and start thinking about what other help you will need. Bring in a business partner if needed and talk to people or businesses you will need to outsource to. Warning: don’t start employing people until you really, really need to. You need to keep costs as low as possible. If you definitely need employees, check out this advice section.
  3. Make sure you have the support of family and friends. You’ll need it.
  4. Join start-up networking groups, the Smarta community and look into business mentors.

tick 2 Naming my business

  1. Read up on branding and advice on choosing business names to start thinking about the perception a business name creates.
  2. Brainstorm a whole heap of possible names and pick out 10 – 20 favourites.
  3. Google your names to see if anyone else has them.
  4. Search Companies House to see if the name is available.
  5. Check no one has the web address (or addresses) you’d want if you started up with that name. If you’re sure about the name, buy the domain for it now.

tick 2 Registering my business

  1. Work out which structure is right for you with this advice section.
  2. Contact HMRC to tell them you’re becoming self-employed and to get the right business starter pack for you.
  3. If you’re going to be a company, you need to register with Companies House. You can register your company with Companies House on Smarta – we simplify the process to save you time and hassle.

tick 2 Setting up shop

  1. Set up your home office (this feature tells you what you need and how to get it on the cheap), or…
  2. Find your premises and negotiate your lease.
  3. Open a business bank account (click the link to do this with our partners RBS or NatWest here on Smarta) if you haven’t done so already, and apply for a business loan if you need one. And read this feature if you get rejected first time for a loan.
  4. Sort out your IT and equipment, furniture, business mobile and phone lines. Handy hint: rent stuff rather than buying it.
  5. Order business stationery (though make sure you have secured your domain name first – see the section below).

tick 2 Set up a website

  1. Read our advice on business websites.
  2. Buy relevant domains for your new business name.
  3. Either build your website yourself or get a designer to, following these guidelines.
  4. Read our feature on what you should pay for a website.
  5. Optimise your website for SEO following the advice in this section.
  6. Read up on the data protection act if you’re going to be collecting data from your website.

tick 2 Getting suppliers and distributors on board

This stage might come earlier in the process, depending on the type of business you’re starting.

  1. Read our advice section on business suppliers and distributors and logistics – or import and export, if that applies.
  2. Read our guide on choosing a supplier.
  3. Set up relationships with main suppliers and distributors, but also keep a list of back-up ones in case something goes wrong.
  4. Get credit from as many suppliers as possible to cut costs. Read this case study if you struggle with getting credit.
  5. Road-test your supply chains and distribution processes with small batches of product first, to make sure everything is working.
  6. Talk to suppliers and distributors about their capacity to scale up if you plan to grow quickly.

tick 2 Get the nitty-gritty right

  1. Get legal advice.
  2. Get business insurance.
  3. Push through any patents or other IP needed.
  4. Find out about what business rates (on premises) and taxes you need to deal with.
  5. Find out what regulations and restrictions you might face, and any licenses you need to obtain before you can start trading. Talk to your local council to find out.
  6. Find out about health and safety regulations.
  7. Read up on VAT to find out if you need to register for it.

tick 2 Almost ready to start selling

  1. Read these guides on sales.
  2. Work out your pricing strategies.
  3. Learn about advertising and marketing, PR and social media and plan your strategies.
  4. Have your books set up and know who will manage them. Crucial note: you need to be able to understand them even if an accountant is doing most of the work. Check out our advice sections on money management and bookkeeping for help.
  5. Network like crazy to tell people about your business!

tick 2 Start selling

Congratulations – you’re in business!

Posted on

JOT-it down as another success story for the Business & IP Centre

It is quite a special feeling when one of our clients from our Business & IP information clinics successfully brings their product or service to market.

In this case, Bob Bhatti had a meeting with my colleague Jeremy O’Hare, way back in November 2008. And he and his business partner Scott Lindsay have pursued their vision since that time, attending a range of our workshops and seminars. They also had an Ask the Expert session with our Inventor in Residence Mark Sheahan. And our commercial Research Service ran patent prior art and trademark searches to help in protecting the intellectual property of the product.

According to the Jot-it Facebook Page, they have just finished exhibiting at the London Gift Fair and are building up a very healthy order book.

Yet again I am amazed that such a simple idea has not been seen before and wish Bob and Scott the best in their exciting business adventure.

What is JOT-it™

JOT-it™ is a handheld product providing maximum writing area on a standard A7 size recycled, pre-printed note pad. It is accompanied with a recycled mini pencil, a pound trolley token to release the shopping trolley from the trolley loan mechanism, has an embedded magnet on the rear for typical fridge attachment and an integrated clip on the rear to clamp the complete device to the shopping trolley handle bar.  This feature also incorporates a high friction rubber pad to provide a robust attachment with minimum effort. All these supplementary items have moulded-in clips on the main body to keep everything organised and together.

With JOT-it™, individuals can generate a shopping list over the course of the week on the notepad using the mini pencil. This notepad is pre-printed with a checklist of the most popular grocery items whilst still leaving a generous amount of space to add additional items. When the user is ready to visit the supermarket, they can take the JOT-it™ along with them.

Once at the supermarket, the user faces another issue of finding a one pound coin to insert into the shopping trolley loan mechanism. The JOT-it™ provides a pound coin widget with a unique thumb grip feature allowing the user to grip the widget securely and remove it successfully each time. It is often found that coins once inserted are not easily retractable due to the minimum grip available.

The JOT-it™ can next be clipped to the shopping trolley handle bar and rotated accordingly to provide a good reading angle. There are no limitations to this adjustment. Again, the mini pencil ( which also has a holder on the front of the unit) can be used to mark off items if the user wishes to and once this shopping trip is complete, the user can dispose of the used leaf and start a new one for the next trip.


Posted on

FAQs when considering the correct legal form for your business

Legal Clarity Logo I have previously blogged on how to Get Legal Clarity on what type of company you should form, and now James Quinn has kindly sent in a list of ten frequently asked questions (FAQs), when customers are setting up in business.

FAQs when considering the correct legal form for your business:

1.    Do I need to register a sole trader business and its name?
No, if you decide to establish as a sole trader then there is no requirement to register your business to bring it into existence, just start trading (the equivalent for companies is registration at Companies House).  However, you must inform HM Revenue & Customs of your self-employed status (information on the pros and cons of setting-up as a sole trader).

2.    How much does it cost?
The legal expenses involved in setting up a company are great – the cost of forming a standard limited company is low and the ongoing compliance costs are usually negligible.  The single largest expense of operating a company is accountants fees – companies are required to file accounts annually with Companies House.  Although technically you could prepare these accounts yourself, it would be inadvisable.

3.    Can I use my home address as the registered office of my company?
Yes, although this means that your home address will appear on the public register.

4.    Do I need more than one person to form a company?
No, you only need one person. Private limited companies can be formed with one director and one shareholder (who can be the same person).

5.    Will running my business as a sole trader gives me more flexibility?
Whilst it may be true that operating as a sole trader allows you to run your business more informally, that does not always equate to flexibility.  For example, operating as a company certainly allows you a great deal more flexibility when it comes to seeking investment or on the sale of your business.

6.   Does a company require a secretary?
No, since 8 April 2008 private limited companies no longer require a secretary (unless, exceptionally, their Articles of Association state otherwise).

7.    Do directors and shareholders have the same role?
This is not the case.  Directors are responsible for the ‘day to day’ running of the company; and shareholders ‘own’ the company and are primarily involved in major decisions concerning the company’s structure and constitution.  The directors and shareholders in smaller companies are often the same people, but it is important to remember that they have different roles and responsibilities depending on whether they are acting as a director or shareholder in relation to a particular decision.

8.    Is there a lot of paperwork associated with a company?
There is some additional paperwork compared to a sole trader business, such as filing an annual return and accounts (although all businesses should keep accounting records in any event).  A company also has to keep Company Registers of shareholders, directors, directors residential addresses, secretaries (if you have one) and charges but these are usually provided on formation and only require updating if there is a relevant change – for example if a director resigns.

9.    Do I need a Shareholders’ Agreement?
No, you are not legally obliged to enter into a shareholders’ agreement when forming a company.  However many businesses with more than one shareholder choose to do so in order to protect their investment in the company and to help resolve any disputes which may arise (Legal Clarity have published a free guide on shareholders agreements).

10.    Do I have to publicly disclose each director’s residential address?
No, since October 2009 directors, shareholders and other officers of the company may provide a ‘service address’ for the public register in place of their residential address.

You can get additional guidance from the Legal Clarity website:
What type of company?
A gentle introduction to private limited companies
Obligations after formation

Posted on

Be Your Own Brand

I’ve just finished watching a short BBC documentary following Richard Reed of Innocent drinks company (On The Road With… – 4. An Entrepreneur). You might recognise him as one of our speakers at our recent The secret ingredient event. And, in fact the documentary ends with some clips of Richard at the evening.

Watching Richard reminded me how many of the most successful entrepreneurs are their own brand. I suppose Richard Branson and Virgin would be the most extreme version of this.

So it is timely that our partner Rasheed Ogunlaru will be running a workshop on this very topic here in September.

Be Your Own Brand: A unique one-day course to take you and your business to the next level.

Are you an entrepreneur, sole trader or small business? Is marketing, promotional and PR support beyond your budget at the moment? If so, then you must become your own brand. Leading life/business coach, PR and media specialist, Rasheed Ogunlaru, shares insights into raising awareness of your business, promoting yourself, broadening your networks and boosting your business – and your success.

He is joined by solicitor-turned-business advisor, Helen Parkins. Helen will show you how to develop powerful partnerships and when you’ll need to introduce the right legal agreements and abide by current rules and regulations to fast-track your success and avoid the pitfalls.

Benefits of attending and areas covered:

  • Develop a powerful sense of your brand and values
  • Communicate your message clearly and effectively
  • Be seen as a specialist in your field
  • Precise marketing: approaching the right customers directly
  • Build your business through contacts, partnership, joint initiatives
  • Identify simple ways of increasing your impact and profitability
  • Promote yourself as an expert in your industry or locality and in the media

Cost: £60  (lunch not included – but available in the library’s cafe/ restaurant)

How to Book:  email rasheed@rasaru.com to book your place. When booking please include:

10.am-4.15pm   Tue 21 Sept

10.am-4.15pm   Thurs 25 Nov

Posted on

Appeal for empty niche brand water bottles

As part of my presentation, during our Practical Market Research workshop, I have a slide showing three very different types of bottled water.

The images nearly always trigger an insightful discussion about branding and niches within markets, and how entrepreneurs need to think very carefully and strategically about their product and service. Are they going to target the top of the market populated with ‘high net worth individuals’, the growing green consumers, or perhaps the ethical demographic?

As you can see from my screen shot, I cover all of the above sectors with my examples.

The first is called bling h20 and costs $40 for the limited edition Paris Pink bottle. They justify its price tag by putting Swarovski crystals on the bottle and making Paris Hilton its patron saint.

The second brand is Tasmanian Rain and claims: This uniquely pure rainwater is captured on the pristine island of Tasmania, Australia where the air is scientifically proven to be the purest in the world. The air currents travel over Antarctica and 10,000 miles of open ocean eventually reaching the western most part of Tasmania, “the edge of the world”. Here, TASMANIAN RAIN is collected before ever touching the ground, therefore never absorbing impurities, and resulting in a water that is ten times more pure than other premium and artesian waters.

Finally, Belu is an ethical brand and claim to produce the UK’s most eco-friendly bottled water.
It is 100% carbon neutral with the UK’s first plastic bottle made from corn not oil. We deliver one month of clean water per bottle we sell and donate all our profits to clean water projects.

All of this is a rather long winded way of getting  to my appeal for empty bottles of these (or any other niche filling bottled water brands) as example for me to hand round in my workshop.

If you happen to be passing by The British Library and could drop them off at the front desk for me, I would be very grateful.

Posted on

Food, family business and fun: In conversation with Oliver Peyton

As part of our Cooking Up Success month in the Business & IP Centre on Tuesday evening 13 July Oliver Peyton, founder and CEO of Peyton and Byrne, came to the Library to give a talk to aspiring restaurateurs.

I am grateful to my colleague Maria Lampert for writing this report on the evening:

In a session moderated by Matt Thomas from Smarta.com Oliver spoke of his arrival in the UK from the west coast of Ireland and of working his way up in the business world. He spoke briefly about his experiences running nightclubs in the early 80’s and how having made a great success of those he turned his hand to restaurants. He had, he told us, made and lost a fortune and then made it all back again.

Oliver is passionate about London (a big plus as far as I am concerned), about Britain and about using only British Produce. ‘British meat’, he said, ‘is the best in the World’ (being Vegan I can’t comment one way or the other on that statement!)

He had some great tips for would be restaurateurs, café or deli owners:

First and foremost he said be aware of the value of your intellectual property, Oliver referred to ‘your trademark’ and ‘your brand’ and said he was very firm in clamping down on anyone who copied any of his products. He has, Oliver told us, no problem with people being influenced by Peyton and Byrne products, but he would not tolerate anyone copying them without permission.

When choosing premises he advised that you check out the landlord and well as the premises and no matter how attractive the premises may be if the landlord appeared in any way untrustworthy or dodgy consider walking away. Also read any tenancy agreement very carefully, some contracts can apparently include for example a clause which allows the landlord to raise the rent at an exorbitant rate very quickly or other such clauses that end up costing you more than you actually make.

Once you have found your premises, Oliver said, don’t be tempted to spend lots of money on expensive décor or furniture, the clients won’t notice it and, in truth, if the food is rubbish the fancy décor will not matter (I must be honest I don’t think I have ever read a review by food critic Jay Rayner where he said a restaurant was worth visiting because of the décor alone!) Better to have decent décor and furniture and great food. Oliver mentioned that when he first opened one of his restaurants he commissioned well known artists of the time to produce works of art for the walls of his restaurant, it cost him thousands of pounds and the diners didn’t even notice.

He realised he could just as easily have had a trendy poster on the wall for all the difference it made. The other point Oliver made relating to décor etc. is that you might spend a lot of money on your restaurant to draw diners in, but if you are successful you will find that competitors will come into the area, set up a cheaper version with the same offering, charge lower prices and lure away your diners.

Choosing staff and dealing with seasonal changes in demand was another subject he touched on. When he employs someone Oliver doesn’t just look at the position they will be filling he considers the whole team he will be slotting them into.

The other tip he gave us regarding staff was to be aware of which parts of your business might be affected by the changes in season. As an example, Oliver said, take the Peyton and Byrne restaurant in St James Park, very busy in the summer, very quiet in the winter. Rather than take on part- time staff he moves staff around so in the winter some of the staff from St James Park would be moved to indoor venues which are busiest during the winter months and visa versa.

To my surprise he said that deli’s are never profitable unless they are attached to something! This is apparently because of the very short shelf life of their product. At the end of each day a lot of the pre-prepared fillings etc have to be thrown away, hence a lot of money is wasted. Deli’s attached to department stores or eateries tend to have a bigger turnover due to greater numbers of people passing through or by.

All in all it was a very enlightening evening with plenty of good advice for all the would be restaurateurs who attended from someone who had been there, done that.

Posted on

Free broker research reports on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues

Having worked in the City of London for many years, I was somewhat surprised to discover that financial institutions are now giving away their highly valued stockbrokers reports.
.
Needless to say they aren’t giving everything out, but through the The London Accord, you can get access to nearly 100 reports on a range of green and ethical related topics.
.
Welcome to the London Accord
The London Accord presents a compendium of reports, written by a range of financial services firms, providing insight into issues ranging from renewable energy to the price of carbon.

The financial services industry produces pertinent and valuable research which could, and should, be used by policy makers and NGOs who are shaping society’s response to long-term issues such as climate change and global pandemics. However, much of this research only sees the desks of a select few and all too soon disappears into the filing systems and cupboards of the commercial sector.

The London Accord allows access to this research free of charge – offering policy makers an insight which they may not otherwise access and giving the financial services industry a way of engaging with society on long-term issues. The London Accord is simple, get more recognition and value from research by sharing what you are about to archive.

Posted on

Anthony Lau presents our new virtual tour of the Business & IP Centre

I’ve already written about Anthony Lau and his Cyclehoop success story. He kindly agreed to be filmed for our latest video which is something of a virtual tour of the Business & IP Centre.

Anthony goes from locking his bike onto one of his award-winning Cyclehoops, to crossing our rather intimidating piazza and then on to register for a free reader’s pass for The British Library. He then explores the Centre itself and talks about the range of information and services we offer.

I was asked to be an extra during the filming, but only my elbow seems to have made it into the final cut.

I would be interested to know how useful you think the video is.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KO62V6mVYy8]

Posted on

Mastering Google AdWords and Pay per Click

Lucidica_logoYet another excellent workshop today by Lucidica founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Thomas Jeffs. This time exploring the world of Google AdWords and Pay-Per-Click Advertising. I have known a bit about these for a while now, in particular their importance to website promotion. But, couldn’t face the effort of getting stuck in on my own. Now I feel I have a really good understanding. Here are my notes from the workshop:

Introduction to Pay per Click

Google and every other search engine makes their money through advertising.

You can spend time working your way up the ‘natural’ search results, or short-cut your way to the to the top by paying via AdWords.

Tom warned that we should not ignore Yahoo and Bing, but also be aware that Google dominates search with over 80% of the market.

The first and most important job is to choose keywords you want associated with your site and decide on your budget. Once your daily budget has gone (pay per click), your advert disappears. Known as pay per action model.

Almost the entire source of Google’s advertising income is pay per click.

Costs are calculated dynamically based on a bidding auction system. You set your maximum bid. You can tell how popular search terms are by how many appear under sponsored section after a Google search.

It’s like bidding on a wardrobe in an auction – the maximum you may be willing to pay could be £1,000, but if no one bids above £600, you’ll get the wardrobe for £605. The difference here is that you have to tell the auctioneer upfront.

Pay per Click Statistics

A combination of marketing and statistics skills required, so you may need to get help with one or the other.

There are eight key metrics:

  1. Impressions – simply how many times your advert appears (not how many times the adword term was searched for).
  2. Clicks – how many times someone clicked on your link (compare to impressions above).
  3. Click Through Rate (CTR) – clicks divided by impressions
  4. Average Position – Position your advert appears when it is clicked on. Includes pages one and two.
  5. Maximum Cost per Click – directly impacts your position on results page and the number of clicks you get. Google help you find out how much you could expect to pay.
  6. Average Cost per Click – depends on what you competitors are bidding.
  7. Cost per Thousand (CPM) – the cost you are paying on your advert per 1,000 impressions (not clicks).
  8. Advert Quality – Marked out of 10. A woolly metric that Google measures on:
  • Advert relevance – your keywords, and to the landing page on your site
  • Historical performance  – of the ad and your account overall
  • Other relevant factors – basically anything Google wants

Getting more complicated

Google try to make things easier for you, but this can have negative consequences

Matching

  • Phrase matching – examples
  • Broad matching – examples
  • Broad matching is the default setting within an AdWords campaign
  • Can go badly wrong – Mulesource example – AdWords account records from Mulesource, the San Francisco-based open source outfit that has spent close to $90,000 on the ad system since November 2006, show the unpredictability of broad matches. When the company bids on a word like “mule,” Google may broad match on “muele,” “mula,” “mula spain,” “mulapelada,” “riding mules for sale,” “trainer mules,” and “yamaha mules.” And the list goes on. Google’s riches rely on ads, algorithms, and worldwide confusion

Content Network

  • Where your ads are displayed on other websites:
  • GoogleMail
  • National Newspapers
  • Your competitors
  • Anyone operating Adscence

Google will try to match the content of the ad (or keywords) with the content of the page.

CTR and CPC is usually much lower than standard Google

The default setting for the content network is on.

Can go badly wrong – example of Air France crash and Virgin ad

Matching and Content Network

  • Sometimes they work – i.e. get a higher return on investment
  • Sometimes the don’t – they cause a lower Ad Quality so lower return on investment

Ad Quality

  • Score given by Google out of 10 – high good, low bad
  • Check monthly at the least

Calculation:

  • The historical Click Through Rate of the keyword and the matched ad on Google
  • Your account history, measured by the CTR of all the ads and keywords in your account
  • The historical CTR for he Display URLs in the ad group
  • The quality of your landing page (target URL)
  • The relevance of the keyword to the ads in its ad group
  • The relevance of the keywords and the matched ad to the search query
  • Your account’s performance in the geographical region where the ad will be shown
  • Other relevance factors

What your Ad Quality impacts:

  • The lower the Ad Quality, the higher your Cost per Click will be
    • Ad Rank = Max. CPC x Quality Score
    • Actual CPC = (Ad Rank to beat divided by Quality Score) + $0.01
  • So if you have a low Ad Quality you can be paying up to 10 times your nearest competitor and still appear below them on a search result.
  • Affects your Ad position
  • Your Cost per Click
  • And in some cases… whether your ad appears at all
  • Low Ad Quality needs to be addressed or the ad removed before it damages the rest of your accounts

Measuring your return on investment

Define your goals

  • Should be the first thing you do with PPC
  • Good Goals
    • Visitor completing a sale
    • Visitor requesting further information
    • Visitor reaching the ‘contact us’ page
  • Bad Goals
    • I want to increase profit by more than spend
  • Ugly Goals
    • I want to increase traffic to my website

Measuring

  • record your traffic – if you haven’t got a good website statistics package keep your spend low until you do
  • Google Analytics is very good for trends and integration with AdWords
  • You can define pages as goals and then display AdWords campaigns within you Analytics account.
  • It will show you not just ‘conversions’, but also how your campaign performs against the rest of the site traffic.
  • Stats packages can track your customers entire route through your website
  • Especially whether they bought or left
  • Define your goals as completions:
    • Order confirmation pages – not ‘buy buttons’
    • Thanks for your request, not ‘contact us’ forms
  • Track all conversions, you will need to set up different ones for AdWords traffic:
    • Phone numbers
    • Email addresses
    • Contact forms
  • You need to measure the exact results for your £100 spend on AdWords
  • Website visitors mean nothing if they don’t buy anything, or fill in a form.
  • Look very closely at:
    • Conversions
    • Bounce rate (single visit and off)
    • Average time on site
    • Average number of pages visited
    • Whether they are a new visitor (don’t pay for someone who’ll buy from you anyway)

Experiment with changes to AdWords and website, do one at a time so you can measure the difference.

Improving your return on investment

  • Pick your keywords and or phrases
    • Very important
    • Need to think out of the box – not how would I search for my site or service, but how would my customers
  • You can control the matching by:
    • Keyword = broad matching – e.g. pet is extended to animal
    • “keyword” = match exact phrase
    • [keyword] = match exact term only
    • –keyword = don’t match this term
  • Remember that ‘mistakes’ affect your Ad Quality that can increase your CPC across all campaigns.

Design your advert

  • Minor tweaks can effect your click through rate
  • Changes to title, description or both
  • 25 characters for title
  • 70 characters for description

Decide when to run your advert

  • think about what time is best to run ad
  • business hours, weekends, morning, afternoon
  • stagger throughout the day to spread your budget

Decide where it runs

  • choose geographic location of ad
  • country targeting works accurately
  • regional is less accurate
  • choose to run on content network – or not
  • suggest running two campaigns – one on the content network and one off – compare the results
  • websites share with Google
    • age details of users
    • sex details
    • income details
    • geographic location
  • so you can choose to target specific demographics
  • you can run exclusions such as ‘conflict and tragedy’
  • target specific websites such as:
    • Facebook
    • Live.com
    • Yahoo
    • Googlemail
  • Specify ‘below the fold’ or not, so the ad only appears when the viewer doesn’t have to scroll to view it.
  • Specify ‘frequency to particular viewers’, so they only see it x number of times.

Decide where it goes – the landing page

  • specify which page the advert clicks through to – not always your home page
  • create pages to match ad campaigns
  • create several landing pages to test the effect on:
    • bounce rate
    • Ad Quality
    • Conversion rate

Top 5 things to change:

  1. Content network on or off – need to experiment with both
  2. Different keywords
  3. Different adverts
  4. Different landing pages
  5. Different time of day

Be wary of statistics – need at least 100 clicks to see if something works or not

Assumptions

  • Start off you campaigns with what you think, but never assume
  • e.g. B2B only search during business hours
  • Operating outside the norm can yield great results, and cost you much less.

6 tips to better Ad Quality
N.B Ad Quality is the golden goose of PPC, master it and the rest of PPC is easy. It is though a dark art with many variables.

  1. Maximise ad relevance – try to match ‘search phrase’
  2. Maximise landing page relevance
  3. Know your search phrase – e.g. victim support London vs it support London – Importance of matching your AdWords or phrases to your audience – e.g. Librarians will be likely to be using Boolean search terms, others are unlikely to do so.
  4. Split test and delete the poor performers
  5. Have good ‘on page’ SEO – especially relevant to ad copy
  6. Undertake good practice – check web standards – Google likes sites that do this
  • You can’t always understand why results are poor
  • But you can stop running ads that don’t work
  • Ignoring bad performance will lead to a vicious cycle where your ad quality goes down and your CPC goes up
  • Mastering PPC is just simply about watching the numbers and understanding what they mean:
    • Increasing the budget on the good – 8’s and above
    • Decreasing the budget on the bad – between 5 and 8
    • Stopping the budget on the ugly – below 5

Tips on outsourcing AdWords to others:

  • Start small and see what they can achieve initially
  • Check for conflicts of interest with rival clients
  • Check to make sure they don’t use ‘spamming’ techniques which could damage your reputation with Google.
Posted on

June is Sell, Profit and Grow month in the Business & IP Centre

We are now into our Sell, Profit and Grow month in the Business & IP Centre. And the good news is that not all of our events have sold out… yet.

We currently have places available for the six events below, but you will need to get your skates on to book:

Conversion marketing 12 places

The Investor Pitch 15 places

6 steps to effective sales meetings 25 places

Keep clients happy and generate sales 35 places

Rich woman poor woman 10 places

Open Evening: DIY or building a team 25 places