What Kind of Website Do I Need, Are Websites Worth It

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Now that you’ve decided to build a website for your small business – congratulations. Your company will receive more visibility, better branding, and eventually more sales.

Before you build your site however, there are several questions you’ll need to answer in order to to determine if you should build a site through a low cost, do-it-yourself website platforms such as Wix, SQUARESPACE or GoDaddy, or make the significant investment in building your own robust website:

  • What products are you looking to sell on your site, and how do you plan on selling them?
  • Are you selling subscriptions? Will the purpose of your site be to make appointments for people to come into your brick and mortar business to buy products or services? 
  • Are you seeking to sell products directly through your websites via online payments?
  • Do you plan to feature industry content or a blog on your site?
  • How will your site stand Apart From Competitors?
  • What Actions Do You Want Site Visitors to Take?

What Should Your Site Accomplish?

Now that you’ve answered those questions, you essentially have two choices: You can use a DIY website platform, which does have its advantages – most of them charge a low monthly fee; provide an easy-to-use website template, and provide web security and basic analytics. This may be the best option to choose if you’re simply looking to expand your presence and just check off the “web presence” box for your business. 

For example, if you’re an independent restaurant owner who wants visitors to use your site to make reservations, or a car dealership owner who wants your site visitors to make appointments for test drives of your vehicles, then a DIY site may be the best choice for you.

DIY platforms do have their drawbacks, though. Almost all of them charge additional fees if you look to add features to your site, and many of them will ask for a large percentage of your revenue if you are seeking to use your site for direct sales. Additionally, the web template that you choose may be being used by other customers, so your website may not look unique.

If you want your website to do more, however, such as accommodate direct sales of your products, offer sales or discounts, or generate industry buzz through a blog page, then building your own website is probably the best bet for you. 

Be warned, however: while building your own site will be well worth the effort from a sales and marketing standpoint, it will be a long, arduous, and expensive process, and one that will require you to first analyze whether it will be worth the money to do so. 

Figuring Out if it’s Worth it

Now the question becomes: based on your wishlist for a website, is building a site worth the money? The answer to this question is paramount in deciding whether to invest capital into building your own site. The process of answering this question is also a bit complicated and may require you to hire an outside web consulting firm to assist you. 

The first thing to do is to figure out the cost of building a website. A basic laundry list of things you will likely need to spend money on in order to create your own site can include:

Do some research to find out the fees of website consulting firms and the market price for a web designer/programmer, if you choose to hire those. In order to house your website and make it available to the public via the world wide web, you can either purchase your own server – the machine that will house your site and may cost upwards of $1,000 – or hire a website hosting platform such as Bluehost or HostGator for a low monthly fee to house your website for you. 

There are many advantages to using a web hosting service – you won’t have to pony up the cash for your own server, and they provide web security for your site. Keep in mind, however, that a hosting platform will charge you the monthly fee for as long as your business’ website exists (which could be up to $60 per year), and there could be add-on charges if you look to make changes to your site.

In addition to hosting costs, leasing an original domain name through services such as GoDaddy, Domain.com or Name.com can cost anywhere between $20 to $50 per year, on average; and purchasing a domain name outright could cost you thousands of dollars.

Other costs to consider: If you do not have expertise in building a website, you may want to hire an experienced web designer/programmer to help you. Hiring an outside firm or an internal employee to do this may be expensive but making a mistake in building your site could be even costlier. Also, you will need a payment processing app to enable your customers to purchase items from your site. Apps such as Merchant One, Clover or ProMerchant will enable them to do that.

Estimating Your Site’s future Revenue

Now that you have an idea of the cost, the next thing you should do is have your website consulting firm assist you in creating a general, one-year projection of revenue for your site, since the process can be complicated. Some lenders may ask for this if you look for financing to build your site.

Of course, we all know that a general calculation of ROI is income minus cost divided by cost, but how do you calculate that if you don’t know what the actual revenue of your site will be? 

While it is impossible to calculate exactly what the revenue will be, you can make a rough estimation by examining the benchmark for similar-sized companies in your industry. The web consulting firm you hire should have data on this, or you can use an online tool called Similarweb, which tracks that. You can also use a web service called Unbounce, which can give you a benchmark conversion rate – the percentage of visitors of an ecommerce site who end up becoming customers. 

“This way, you’ll have an idea of what to expect in terms of revenue,” said Lucie Loubet, director of digital marketing at web design firm DesignWare. “Just remember to look at the paid vs. organic traffic breakdown in Similarweb to understand how much additional money you will have to invest in customer acquisition.”

Dawid Zimney, product manager at web consulting agency NerdCow, added “Your web agency needs to know your conversion rate, your market and your audience. They need to benchmark this against the historical improvements of the conversion rate on their clients’ websites.”

Another marketing term to know is customer lifetime value (CLV) – the estimated value of a return customer. For example, if you own a restaurant and you see certain customers coming back because they love your food, or a retail clothing store and you see customers returning for the service, you can calculate the average amount they spend per visit and multiply that by the number of times they visit your business. 

The website firm you hire can help you estimate the percentage of customers who will become repeat customers, as well calculate their CLV.

Final Calculation

Nikita Chen, founder and CEO of item authentication firm LegitRails, said the final step in calculating your website’s future ROI is to multiply the number of estimated customers with the CLV, and then determine whether that number is greater than the cost of building the website. The web marketing firm you hire should help you with that. 

“If the number is higher, you are in profit, and it is, therefore, a good idea to create the website,” she said. “If the number is lower (which could be the case if you’re running excessive ads) it might not be in your best interest. The figure you come up with at this stage will also determine your ROI,” said Chen.

Financing Options to Pay for Your Site

If you’ve realized that your needs require you to build a custom website but you don’t have the cash on hand to pay for it, that’s okay. There are several financing options you can choose from. 

A business line of credit may be a good option for you since building a website will not be a one-off expenditure. A business line of credit – much like a personal credit card – will give you the flexibility to spend as you go along in the process of building your site, and you will only be charged interest on what you borrow. You can also pay it down as you go along.

If you’ve predetermined a budget for building your site and plan to stick to it, then a business loan may be right for you. If you go to a traditional lender, they may ask you for a business plan or projected ROI on your website. Alternative lenders such as Kapitus will generally just ask to see your company’s revenue history and approve you for financing more quickly than a traditional lender.

Test Your Site First

Now that you’ve decided to go ahead with your site, you should have your web designer/programmer build a test site, typically referred to as a beta site. Pick the top functionality of your site, have your programmer design and build it, and release it online. The beta site should be a limited release of your website with the goal of gauging audience reaction a nd finding bugs before the final release of your site. 

The site is usually opened up to a limited number of users, such as employees of your company or friends or family. The idea of the beta site is to listen to their feedback and use that to make improvements or adjustments to your final website. 

Next Up

“If you build it, they will come…”

Now that you’ve done the calculations and figured out that building your own site is worth it, how do you build a site that is visually appealing, user friendly and will generate additional sales? In the next article, we will discuss what your site should look like to make that happen.

How Do Small Business Owners Build Their Websites?

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So you’ve decided to take your small business to the next level by building a website – you should congratulate yourself for taking the leap into the Internet. Whether you’re a small business with 200 employees and several different offices, or you’re an independent retail business or restaurant owner, you are about to expand your customer base and company brand to web browsers around the world. 

In our last article, What Kind of Website Do I Need, and is it Worth it?, we discussed the cost of the things you will need to build your site, such as a domain name, web hosting platform, etc. Here, we will discuss the steps you need to take to build your new site.

Starting from scratch can be confusing, as there are lots of choices to make. First, there are two ways you can go: if you are looking to simply promote your brand and check off the box for your business that says “online presence,” then low cost, do-it-yourself website builders such as Wix.com, SQUARESPACE or GoDaddy would be the best bet for you. 

If you’re seeking to build a robust site that can generate online sales and market yourself as an authority in your industry, then creating a site from scratch may be your best bet. This will, of course, require a commitment of time, patience and money, but it will be well worth the effort. 

DIY Website Pros and Cons

Using a DIY website builder is, of course, the cheapest route to building a new site, and there are plenty of advantages to using one of them: they’re relatively cheaper than building your own site, usually costing a low monthly fee; they’re easy to use, and they typically provide search engine optimization (SEO) and analytics features, as well as security. 

Some of the drawbacks are, however, that there can be hidden fees if you choose to expand your site, and other users may use the same website template that you’ve chosen, which would make your site look unoriginal. Here is a full list of pros and cons of using a DIY web builder that you should be aware of: 

Investing in Your Own Site – What you Need

If you are looking for a site that can process direct sales from customers, attract lifetime customers and build sales leads, then you most certainly should look to construct your own robust site from scratch. While this will entail a long, costly process, the effort will be worth it in the long term, as it will most likely yield the best results in terms of increased sales, brand recognition and customer base. The cost of a new website may be daunting at first, but remember the old adage, “you have to spend money to make money.”

Just consider – according to the US Census Bureau, e-commerce sales accounted for 13.8% of all retail sales in the first quarter of 2021, a steady rise from 5% in the first quarter of 2012. The pandemic only increased online purchases, as people had to make purchases from the comfort of their homes. Most economists believe, however, that the steady increase of online shopping, including food orders from restaurants, will only increase. 

Keep in mind that e-commerce sales are so prevalent now that they even contributed to the fall of brick and mortar giants such as Toys R Us, and economic experts believe e-commerce will only continue to rise. Given this, now is the time to offer your products and services online through your own site. 

A basic laundry list of things you will need to create your own site include:

  • High Speed Cable Internet;
  • A Domain name;
  • A Web hosting platform such as BlueHost, HostGator or GoDaddy, or your own server;
  • A Basic website layout;
  • A content management system;
  • A web designer/programmer, and
  • A Web-based Payment Module 

Designing & Building Your Site

Now that you’ve decided to build a website, know that designing a thorough and visually appealing site will be as important as the quality of the products or services you are selling. Examine the websites of your competitors to get ideas of what you believe works and doesn’t work.

The first thing you will need to do is ask yourself what you want your website to accomplish so that you can create subsets of your website’s welcome page. If you are seeking to expand the reach of your brand and ultimately increase sales, a basic list of items to highlight on your site could include:

  • A welcome page that will include your company’s logo, a basic explanation of who you are, your mission statement, and company reviews. 
  1. Remember, the welcome page is the first thing that web browsers will see, and it will be the initial reason they decide to stay on your site. Work with an experienced web designer to make it visually appealing, and without being too wordy, define your company and what it has to offer. 
  • A subset page that offers a catalogue of your company’s products.
  1. A subset page where browsers can actually purchase your products. This will also require your page to have a web-based payment module to process payments via credit or bank card.
  2. An “About Us” subset page informing browsers who you are, your history and perhaps any video presentation demonstrating your dedication to your products and services.
  3. A “Contact Us” subset page, and
  4. A blog subset page where you can write and post articles about trends in your industry to make you seem like an expert in your field. Content management systems such as WordPress, can make blogging easy.
  1. While it is time consuming, blogging SEO optimized articles about your industry is one way to keep potential customers coming back to your site and thinking about the industry in which you are selling products.

The second task you want to complete is to formulate a basic layout of your website. 

For our purposes, we used a fictitious company, “Joe Smith’s Construction Supplies,” to create an example of how you may want to outline your website:

Nuts and Bolts

As far as the nuts and bolts of building your own site goes, you can take courses to learn computer code and web design which, of course, will cost you time and money. Otherwise, you probably will need to hire a web designer/programmer to build your site. You can hire one on a freelance basis, but as you interview them, ask to see websites they have constructed in the past, as well as references. 

Once you do, work with both them and your website consulting firm to create a visually appealing, original and user friendly, responsive site that is optimized for computers, tablets and smartphones. You may even consider creating a limited test website, known as a beta site, to find any bugs in your site before you officially launch it. 

Next Up

“If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”

What good will an awesome new website do you if no one is looking at it? Now that you’ve gone through the long and arduous process of building a great website, it won’t automatically mean more sales. 

In the next article, we will discuss general ways to draw viewers to your site. After all, web traffic turns into sales, and sales turns into potential lifetime customers. 

Effective means to reach out to clients

How to Diversity Your Client Base

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Did you know that an over-reliance on a regular customer base is an easy crutch that all too many small business owners lean on? This is especially dangerous when you have one or two clients that are responsible for the majority of your revenue, because businesses that become too comfortable with only serving their regulars or do most of their business with only a few clients are often the most at-risk in the event of a downturn, or if those clients simply decide to go in another direction. Cultivating a more diverse portfolio of clients is one of the most effective ways to insulate a business from financial loss, increase cash flow, and spur on growth.

There is no universal answer as to how diverse a customer base ought to be. Depending on   a business’s size, location, and industry, different customer base sizes may be sufficient where others are not. A general guide for businesses is that no one client or customer should account for more than 8% of your revenue. If  your revenue has become too dependent on customers, or you simply think your business could benefit from some new clients there are several low-cost strategies for revitalizing your base.

Form New Business Partnerships

An effective means to increase your own customer base is to cross pollinate with another business’s base. Find a local company or service that is related to your own and find a way to incorporate them into your ecosystem. Partnerships aren’t only for large corporations. Local partnerships can go a long way to kick off growth in a shared community. An example of a good cross pollinating partnership could be a local business services firm and a staffing agency. Both businesses can benefit from new customers but are not competing in the marketplace. By exchanging their services or internal referrals, the two businesses can see growth among their two customer bases without competition.

 To learn what partnerships may work best for your business, consider attending industry events and trade shows. One of the best ways to kick off a meaningful partnership is a personal connection.

Use Your Existing Customers as Advocates

Be sure to engage with your existing customers, as they are a helpful tool for acquiring new ones. A proven way to let your customers and clients bring new eyes to your business are testimonials. Online testimonials are often the first point of contact for a consumer with a new business. A good collection of testimonials can give authenticity to your brand at zero cost. Since testimonials are collected from existing customers and clients, the only cost may be adding a new line to business cards, flyers and receipts asking for testimonials. Engage your customers with inviting phrases like “Share your Experience” or “Let Us Know How We’re Doing.” “Contact Us” links and titles are so ubiquitous that they will often go unnoticed. Businesses can try to increase the number of natural testimonials by highlighting good reviews on their website and giving personalized responses to reviews on Google and Yelp.

Another key strategy for mobilizing your existing customers is kicking off a referral program. Referral programs incentivize customers like no other program because – when run appropriately – you, your existing customer and the newly referred customer all see benefits. Effective referral programs can be executed in a number of ways – from your basic word-of-mouth initiatives, to email and social programs, to larger scale programs run on software dedicated solely to customer advocacy programs. The most effective referral programs must have a legitimate incentive for both the original customer and the person they will hopefully pull in. This usually means discounts or cash value, but the cost of an effective referral program is still likely a fraction of an advertising or marketing campaign.

Step Out of Your PR Comfort Zone

A key element to diversifying is increasing your business’s discoverability. There are several free means to harness discoverability with the most prevalent being traditional news media. Get in touch with your local news station to make your business’s name known. Develop a relevant press list for your business that includes all related publications that may overlap with your industry. As a business owner, you have valuable perspectives that can also up your discoverability. Regularly look on websites like HARO (Help a Reporter Out) and see when your input as a business owner may help a reporter’s piece. If you are quoted, you can ask for your business to be attributed with your name.

Another modern avenue to increase your discoverability is interactions with bloggers and social media influencers. The most effective means to get in touch with Internet personalities is with social media. Make sure that your presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and even video platforms like Tik-Tok is unique and authentic. Reach out to bloggers with either an opportunity to review your products or tour your facilities. Engaging with the new world of independent media is one of the most certain ways to touch the emerging Generation Z consumer base, as the UMass Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research found that 97% of Generation Z uses social media.

Find Your Niche and Own It

Businesses that identify and engage with a niche audience have the best chance of pulling in more customers with the same interests. A niche market is essentially a smaller section of a larger industry that shares a trend. One of the best ways to capitalize on a niche audience is to determine your most popular product or service and brand that as your specialty. It is, however, essential that consumers associate you with a certain product or service niche. It is up to the business to effectively market their most popular product or service in an effective way that can pull in even more interest. Find out what services your competition is not offering and see if you can fill the space.

An example of effective niche marketing can also be putting a spin on your business to separate you from your competition. Marketing yourself as the most eco-friendly or the most supply-line conscious option has the best chance of associating you with like-minded customers and giving yourself the advantage in a crowded market.

Introspection Before Diversification

Before starting new outreach strategies, it is important for a business to assess their own strengths. Think about why your current customers or clients choose to do business with you over competitors. Think about what your business does best. Once you have determined your business’s unique strengths, have them guide your marketing and outreach. Having concrete goals and targets for growth is one of the best ways to stay on target when taking on new projects like client diversification.

The most certain way to diversify your client base is to offer consistent and excellent service. While there are several ways to seek out new customers, the only way to keep them is through care and attention to detail.

A Doctor’s Guide to Medical Practice Loans

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Getting financing for health care practices shouldn’t have to be as complicated as surgery. 

No matter what type of health care professional you are, you’re going to need state-of-the-art equipment, computers and office space to ensure a successful practice. 

A variety of financing exists that considers the unique needs and qualifications of health care professionals, such as high student debt, the fact that medical office revenue streams are more unique than other types of businesses, and irregular insurance payments.

Financial pressure ramped up on the US healthcare system during the COVID-19 pandemic, as many providers were forced to replace outdated equipment, expand their facilities and hire more professionals. Post pandemic, the demand for financing in this sector should be on the rise to tackle higher patient volumes and the need for new equipment and technology to accommodate new practice offerings, such as telehealth.

Given the need for financing, there are a lot of options out there. Healthcare financing, depending on the lender, can apply to (but is not limited to):

  • Independent primary care physicians
  • Ambulatory care facilities
  • One room surgical facilities
  • Specialists, such as orthopedists, ophthalmologists and podiatrists
  • Optometrists
  • Veterinarians
  • Mental health professionals
  • Chiropractors
  • Alternative medicine specialists
  • Licensed masseuses 

Types of medical practice financing include:

Alternative Lenders Such as Helix Healthcare Financing

If you’re a health care practitioner that needs financing, there are a lot of traditional lenders out there ready to offer you deals. Those deals, however, could require long wait times and complicated application processes. One alternative lending process you may want to explore is online lending. 

As such, Kapitus offers a variety of lending options through its Helix Healthcare Financing, an online financing option that specifically addresses health care practices. With Helix, you can get a wide array of financing options with a pricing grid that is tailor-made for independent medical practices and that can meet your unique cash flow needs. 

The qualifications for Helix financing are most likely simpler than the requirements from traditional lenders. You’ll need:

  • A FICO score of at least 600;
  • A practice that is at least six months old;
  • An annual revenue of at least $120,000, and
  • You must be a licensed practitioner. 

Helix financing can give you the ability to consolidate debt and get rid of those high interest credit cards you may have been using to finance your practice and can offer you everything from equipment financing and revenue-based financing to term loans to increase your cash flow. 

The bottom line with Helix and other online lenders is that they are generally more accessible and may be able to offer a better cost of financing than traditional lenders. Their emergence over the past year has been in direct response to the difficulty many medical practitioners have had in getting financing from traditional sources, especially after the financial crisis brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

SBA 7(a) Loan

The most widely used vehicle for medical practice financing is often the one that is the most difficult to obtain: the SBA 7(a) loan. This is often sought after by medical practitioners because it typically offers the lowest APR rates and carries loan terms longer than most traditional lenders – 5 to 25 years. It also carries a maximum loan amount of up to $5 million, and 85% of the loans of up to $150,000, and 75% of loans greater than $150,000 are guaranteed by the SBA.

It does have its drawbacks, however. If you’re just starting your practice, this is not the type of financing for you, as an SBA loan usually requires years in business and a strong business credit score. It also requires collateral for loans of more than $350,000. Because the terms are so favorable, competition for this type of financing is fierce. You also are going to run into:

  • A long, competitive application process,
  • An extended underwriting process, and
  • A long timeline to capital access.

Traditional Bank Loan

The pros of traditional bank loans are that many banks offer financing products specifically tailored to the unique needs of health care practices. These loans, however, are difficult to obtain as they usually require years in business, high credit scores and high annual revenues. 

Approval for a traditional bank loan and access to cash can often take months, so this might be the right type of financing if you have long-term plans such as acquiring another medical practice or looking to purchase new real estate to expand your business. 

Term Loan

A term loan is a lump sum of cash that is paid back over a predetermined period of time. While term loans are offered by traditional banks, online lenders have become increasingly popular in the post-pandemic era as they more often offer lending services specifically designed to meet the needs of healthcare practices, have less stringent borrowing requirements than a traditional bank, and a quicker approval process.

Because online lenders generally may be willing to take on more risk than banks, however, they may charge a higher APR. You should take the time to explore the different pricing grids offered by various online lenders to see what is right for you.

Short-Term Loan

Short-term loans are generally provided by alternative lenders and are great if you need cash quickly. You generally can obtain these loans if you have a high, predictable monthly cash flow. 

If you are a veterinarian looking to quickly purchase a new dog kennel or a chiropractor looking to buy new beds for your patients, for example, this may be the right product for you. 

Keep in mind, however, that while the processing time for short-term debt is relatively quick, these types of loans typically carry a higher interest rate relative to a bank or SBA loan. 

A Business Line of Credit

Business lines of credit act like credit cards for your business and are offered by both traditional and alternative lenders. They could be ideal for mental health practitioners who are not seeking to purchase specific medical equipment, but perhaps are seeking furniture, larger office space and computer equipment. 

The advantages they offer are that, like credit cards, you will only pay interest on the money borrowed, and they will offer you quick access to funds and flexible repayment terms. They are not ideal, however, for one-off investments, and like a credit card, the fees and interest rates can add up if you’re not careful in your spending. 

Equipment Financing

Equipment financing is offered by both traditional and alternative lenders, but through online lenders, the borrowing terms are generally more relaxed and approval is often quicker. It is a great financing tool if you are a medical specialist such as an independent orthopedist and are seeking a new x-ray or MRI machine, or perhaps new computer equipment. Collateral on this type of financing is generally not required, and they are often easier to qualify for. If you are just setting up your practice, this could be a great financing tool for you, as you will own the equipment rather than leasing it.

The general cons of equipment financing are that the funds can only be used to purchase the equipment you specified in the terms of the loan, and that certain pieces of equipment that may become outdated quickly may carry higher interest rates. 

The Bottom Line

As a medical professional, you shouldn’t have a difficult time finding financing that is right for you, as lenders generally consider health care practices to be more lucrative than other business sectors. You should sit down with your accountant or financial expert to go over which type of financing is best for your particular practice, and target what the best terms and rates will be for you.

Does My Small Business Need a Website?

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The question isn’t whether your small business needs a website, the real question is: why don’t you have one yet?

It may seem intuitive nowadays that all businesses, no matter how small, have their own website. After all, companies generally seek to use the power of the web to extend their reach into their respective markets, grow their brand identity and potentially increase their customer base.

According to a survey of small businesses with 500 or fewer employees from Top Design Firms (TDF), however, 28% of small businesses do not have a website, with 44% of those companies planning to create one in the next year.

Addressing Doubts About Websites

If you’re one of the many small business owners who are still reluctant about jumping into the internet, here are answers to some of your most common doubts:

I have a Facebook page, so why would I need a website too?

Social Media alone doesn’t cut it.  One common myth among business owners is that simply having an account on social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram is equivalent to having your own website. While a social media presence is certainly important, platforms such as FB or LinkedIn reach a limited audience and does not allow you to optimize your content. Furthermore, these platforms do not have a website address that would allow your website to appear in internet searches, thus causing you to miss out on potential customers.

I don’t believe a website will make a difference with the marketing of my business.

Consider the fact that print publications are now practically obsolete, as most people turn to their computers or smartphones for news. That’s how much the internet has become ingrained into our daily lives.

While TV commercials, print ads, and billboard marketing do still have their places, the world wide web is by far the most widely used medium when new and potential customers are seeking information on businesses. If you have a website, browsers can view your company’s mission statement, review your products and services, and stay up to date with your business’s new offerings with a stroke of the keyboard. 

Also, a website could give you an advantage over your competitors in that customers can gain unique insights into what your company has to offer. To name a few examples, a construction firm can give virtual tours of its building sites, and a medical office can showcase new,  patient technology or provide virtual appointments. In the restaurant industry, curbside-to-go became a new revenue stream during the pandemic and is likely here to stay, forcing restaurants to give their customers the option of viewing their menu and ordering and paying for their food online. 

My business is too small to have a website, plus I’m already happy with the size of my customer base.

If the past year and a half has taught us anything, it’s that no matter how established your business, your customer base can shrink – and quickly. Whether you’re a restaurant or small business services company, you’re always going to need a pool of new and potential customers. When potential customers come across your website, it gives your company instant credibility, ease of access, and potential business opportunities in places where you’d least expect. 

“By building a website, users can easily find you with a quick web search and find more information about your business in order to make informed decisions on your products or services,” said Diane Sparacio, digital marketing specialist at marketing firm Wheels Up Collective. 

A website costs too much.

Depending on what the purpose of your website will be, it can cost a little or a lot. If your goal is to simply promote your business, then low-cost, do-it-yourself services such as Wix.com, Network Solutions, or SQUARESPACE may be your answer. 

These services provide you with website templates and solutions, graphics, traffic monitoring, and a domain name. With most of these services, all you have to do is enter your desired text and artwork into the template, and a visually appealing website will be created. 

Be aware, however, that these sites often come with conditions. If you intend to generate revenue from your site, they may ask for a high percentage of that revenue, so carefully read the fine print.

If you are seeking to directly sell products or services or generate sales leads with your website, you should consider building your own site. This will require, however, a major investment, as purchasing a domain name, buying computer equipment, and hiring a web designer and programmer will cost you. You and your company’s leaders should sit down with your accountant or outside marketing firm and discuss potential financing, as well as forecast a return on investment for your website. 

A Website takes too much time to maintain.

Like any other aspect of your business, you’ll get out of your site what you put into it. Creating new, compelling content for your website will require extra work for you, but will get you more exposure. 

If you are serious in your commitment to delve into the online world, you may even consider hiring a creative content writer and search engine optimization (SEO) manager to help regularly refresh your site with content that will draw more traffic. According to the TDF survey, nearly half of small businesses have in-house employees to manage their site, and about one-third of them partner with an outside agency to manage their websites.

To put it simply, managing your business’ website will be another time-consuming chore for you, but the potential benefits are well worth the effort. 

I don’t believe my website will attract new customers.

To the contrary, the internet is now the frontline for gaining new customers and new business. Even for local businesses such as an independent restaurant or retailer, a website would allow you to expand your reach by promoting discounts, sales, new merchandise and menu items. Consumers generally seek bargains, so when they read on your site that you are offering value deals, you could be reaching an entirely new base of potential customers. 

“A website acts like an online shop window,” says Jasmine Savery, a digital marketer for web consulting firm Hydra Creative. “People all across the globe use the internet, meaning that by having a website, you can reach many more people than you could through traditional methods, such as leaflet drops or local press advertising. If you are a business that sells products, this could open up another huge revenue stream for you. It means you won’t be limited to selling your products or services in one area, or even just one country.”

Guide: How to Build an Electrical Business

How to Grow an Electrical Business

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Are you looking into how to grow your electrician business? Well, you’re at the right place. In this guide, you’ll learn the top considerations — everything from coming up with a business plan to financing options.

Here are the steps you should be taking to ensure your electrical business is set up for the growth that you envision.

Devise an Electrical Business Plan

Just like any business, an electrical business needs a solid plan. Going through the planning process allows you to focus on specific steps to get your ideas off the ground. It also provides an opportunity for you to outline short- and long-term growth objectives. 

As you devise your electrical business plan, you’ll need to address and evaluate market needs, capital, overhead, competition and pricing. This information will come in handy when it’s time to set specific benchmarks. A business plan will also make managing risks easier because you’ll have a better understanding of revenue and expense projections, logistics and operational plans, and the competitive market landscape. All of this can lead to improved decision-making and provide a more realistic view of where you expect your electrical company to be in the future.

A business plan for growing an electrical business generally consists of the following components: 

  • Executive summary
  • Market opportunity
  • Marketing and sales strategy
  • Operations plan 
  • Personnel strategy
  • Financial projections 

The overall purpose of this plan is to formulate an effective strategy for growth, determine your future financial needs and attract lenders and investors.

Before you get started on this important step, you should first find a mentor who’s doing what you want to accomplish and is willing to share everything you need to know about growing an electrical business. By shadowing your mentor on the job, you’ll have the opportunity to ask questions and get electrical business ideas — everything from how to finance electrical equipment to professional liability insurance.

And industry business owners agree. Tommy Mello, The Homer Service Expert, for instance, says it would have been helpful to find a mentor before starting his own garage-door business 15 years ago. Instead of spending time figuring things out on his own, he could have more quickly emulated best business practices.

“You’ve got to act like the business you want to become, and I didn’t know that back then,” says Mello, owner of A1 Garage Door Service, which reached $30 million in revenue last year.

“If I would have listened to a mentor tell me, ‘This is why you shouldn’t do this,’ or ‘This is why you should,’ it would have definitely fast-forwarded the business.”

Before creating your electrical business plan, you may also want to listen to electrician podcasts for tips and ideas, as well as read books on how to grow your electrical business.

Create a Marketing Plan

Once you determine that there’s a marketing opportunity for growing your electrical business, it’s time to develop a marketing plan or strategy. Start by creating an outline of specific marketing tactics that could help expand your customer base and build sustainable long-term growth.

Some examples of marketing tactics for an electrical business are as follows:  

  • Content marketing, such as search engine optimization (SEO) services for electricians to get your business visible in multiple cities
  • An optimized website to showcase your brand
  • Pay per click (PPC) advertising
  • Google local services ads for lead generation
  • Networking with other large and small businesses, especially home services businesses
  • Networking with other local electricians
  • Social media, video and email marketing
  • Customer testimonials
  • Offer free annual electrical “health” services

Decide an estimated budget for each marketing tactic that you choose to utilize, and be sure to test each strategy and measure the results. Your marketing plan should also detail how you will sell to customers, key marketing partnerships, a pricing strategy and your market positioning. Keep in mind, as your electrical business grows, you’re marketing mix will likely change. Therefore, your marketing tactics, strategy and financial ability will continue to evolve along with your business needs and goals.

Develop an Operations Plan

Your operation’s plan will explain all the specifics about how your electrical business will run. It should include actionable details on your company goals, procedures and timelines, as well as keep everyone involved accountable for meeting deadlines and on track with growing your electrical business.  

Your operations plan should have the following:

  • Long-term goals, key milestones and timelines
  • Strategy and processes for inventory sourcing, suppliers, equipment, technology, people, capital, financing, sales, marketing and in some instances, R&D, logistics and supply chains.  
  • Departmental budgets, as well as employee roles and responsibilities
  • Strategy for support processes, such as human resources, payroll and accounting
  • Process for monitoring progress

Overall, you’ll need to think about what your electrical business will look like as it grows. Start by looking at where it is today and where you would like it to be in the future. A communication strategy along with your operations plan is also critical to ensure your team is working towards your stated goals.

Recruit and Train Competent Employees

Electrical contracting businesses belong to a sector of skilled trades that often find it difficult to attract and retain qualified employees due to high demand. However, although employee turnover risks may be greater in the electrician construction and maintenance sector than others, you should not skimp on investing time and money in training while growing your electrical business. By having a properly trained workforce, your workers will be able to learn necessary skills that allow them to improve productivity, reduce costly mistakes and build confidence. In turn, adequate training can lead to the engagement needed to increase workforce morale and reduce employee turnover. 

For electrical businesses, safety training is typically a priority. From using electrical equipment to installing electrical wiring, training will help eliminate mishaps on the job that could hinder your business from growing. 

Technology training is also key, especially from a competitive standpoint. Keep technology in the forefront by developing a comprehensive skills training program to help foster new technologies and innovations, which can in turn improve crew management, project handling and safety strategies. 

Keep in mind, your employees will be working and interacting with your clients on a daily basis, so your electrical contracting business will only be as good as the people you hire and train. A well-trained staff can see where improvements could be made and develop client relationships to propel your business forward.

When building your recruiting program, it’s suggested to develop a comprehensive organizational chart that includes clear job descriptions and expectations for every position. Incentive pay for recruiting efforts is also recommended.

“Some people say, ‘always be closing.’ I say, ‘always be recruiting,’” says Mello, who gives employees $1,500 for referring a new hire.

“I think a lot of us, we just don’t start the business right,” he adds. “Give it such a strong foundation, there’s nowhere to grow but up.”

Set Financial Projections and Secure Financing

Growing your electrical contracting business can put a strain on your cash flow. Therefore, you’ll likely need to secure additional financing. Before shopping for loans, determine how much financing you’ll need based on your overall growth plans for each investment.

Some common options to finance your electrical business expansion are:

Bank Term Loans

Start your loan shopping by looking for bank term loans from traditional lenders, especially if you have good credit and established profitability. Bank term loans can cover most of your electrician financing needs and have the most favorable rates and terms.

SBA Loans

SBA business loans have similar rates and terms as traditional loans because they are actually provided by traditional lenders. SBA loans are partially backed by the federal government, which means some of the lender’s losses will be taken care of if you default on the loan.  

Online Lenders

For quick financing, you can also look into online business lenders. Online loans are typically under $250,000 and come with shorter terms and higher interest rates than traditional bank loans. However, online loans have lower credit and cash-flow requirements, a faster funding process and give electrician companies another option to finance their business expansion when a bank loan is not available or can not get you the working capital you need quickly enough.  

Equipment Leasing

Obtaining machinery or equipment is common when expanding an electrical business. A good alternative to traditional equipment loans is equipment leasing, as equipment leases are conducted relatively fast and are easier to qualify for. Terms can also be more flexible, and lease payments lower, when compared to equipment loans. The option to purchase the equipment at the completion of the lease is another benefit.

Overall, there is a loan out there for any kind of electrical business expansion need, including working capital, advertising, recruiting, payroll expenses and more. It’s just a matter of determining what type of loan will be the best fit for your particular situation.  

Know Why You Want to Grow Your Electrical Business

Growing an electrical business is an important endeavor that requires quite a bit of thought. Identify your personal strengths to find out where you’re going to need help and to see if expanding your business is right for you. Determine how well you understand other areas of business, for instance, financial and management topics in electrical contracting. Then, seek the assistance of mentors in the industry to fill in the knowledge gaps.   

More importantly, though, set forth a compelling case for growing your electrical business in the first place. Or as Mello says, “You’ve got to choose what’s important to you and decide what’s your ‘Why?’”

 

 

Surviving Covid: Rethinking Revenue Models

Rethinking Revenue Models During Re-Opening and Beyond

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As businesses look toward the third quarter of the year, many are still looking for ways to overcome the unexpected pains that COVID-19 has inflicted on their revenue models. With states and localities having widely varying re-opening plans, it’s only natural for businesses in every sector to be on the lookout for new ways to generate revenue.

 To help your business find inspiration for its own COVID-coping and re-opening plans, the businesses below share how they’ve reimagined their revenue models over the past two quarters.

 Adding Humanity to Membership Models

Before COVID-19, Scott Beaver, Ph.D. (affectionately known as Dr. Scott) and his company Easy Hard Science operated on a fee-per-course revenue model for its pre-recorded and live-by-chat video classes. With kids out of school for an indefinite time and parents’ needs to keep their kids learning, Beaver switched his business over to a membership model.

Now offering unlimited courses for a simple monthly fee, Beaver can overcome the trend he sees with how other companies are leveraging the internet during the COVID crises.

“Families are still stuck at home, and they are being offered all sorts of digital and mail order products,” says Beaver. “These products are safe, yet perhaps less human.”  Easy Hard Science provides what Beaver refers to as “good old ‘service with a smile’” and believes that his commitment to personal service is why families want to join and then stay in his membership program. He experienced a 300% increase in revenue in just six weeks after launching his membership model.

“We spend hours and hours talking with parents and having learners in live online classes and suggest you do the same,” he says. “Don’t expect robots to keep your customers happy. The world wants and needs more humanity at this moment, even if it’s delivered in a digital format.”

Investing in Micro-Influencers

 

 

Escape the chaos and embrace the calm one drop at a time. ☀️ Via: @jamesaspey #nuleafnaturals #nuleaf #cbdoil #cbd #organic #fullspectrum #wellness #peace

A post shared by NuLeaf Naturals Est. 2014 (@nuleafnaturals) on

NuLeaf Naturals had a healthy revenue stream built up through retailers, which came to a halt once states and cities imposed shutdowns. That forced NuLeaf to rethink its revenue model and focus on one that would help it become more self-reliant in all economies. 

No matter the circumstance, NuLeaf’s Vice President of Operations Ian Kelly knew that people still need to buy things, and eCommerce is the best bet in terms of safety. He helped navigate NuLeaf to a new revenue solution with micro-influencers through Instagram – online personalities with 10,000 followers or less.

“Micro-influencers are great for growth hacking social media without shelling out too much money,” says Kelly. “Investing in five micro-influencers with 10,000 followers is better than targeting one influencer with 100,000 followers. If you can find micro-influencers who are already fans of your products, it’s a great catch.”

Through NuLeaf’s micro-influencer campaigns, they’ve experienced a significant increase in engagement – especially direct messages from potential customers asking questions about their products. NuLeaf can now engage with new customers on a one-on-one level and start meaningful conversations that address a potential customer’s specific concerns. As a result, they’ve seen a rise in sales and plan to carry the micro-influencer marketing strategy alongside retailer re-openings and beyond.

Envisioning New Verticals

Rethinking Revenue Models During Covid

Credit: UCplaces.com

 

When you wanted to create or take a virtual tour – through a city, a haunted house, a historical monument – UCPlaces was the place you went to. Their app took you inside for a look at destinations far and wide, yet when COVID came along, tourism ground to a halt. Tourism was one of the main reasons people tuned into UCPlaces tours, for the self-guided experiences in new cities and countries.

“Since tourism took such a huge downturn, we were forced to adopt a new business model out of necessity,” says Mary Rutt, the company’s Director of Business Development.

As the company started rethinking revenue models, one COVID-related trend stood out.

“With folks moving out of crowded cities and rural real estate markets becoming flooded, we felt that the UCPlaces tour creation platform could be a great tool to help real estate agents stand out,” says Rutt. The only challenge was figuring out a way to create tours that real estate agents and their clients found beneficial. UCPlaces did their version of market research.

“We started by presenting the platform to a few local agents for their feedback. Our goal was to determine if providing tours to potential buyers would be something they’d find exciting,” she says. “The reaction was overwhelmingly enthusiastic, and we knew this was a revenue stream we had to explore.”

Two months after having the idea, UCPlaces now targets real estate agents to create “where to live” tours for their potential buyers to learn about a new location and not have to be in the car with their agent. 

“UCPlaces users can pop in their earbuds or connect to their car’s Bluetooth speakers and take one of our pre-recorded, GPS-led walking, hiking, cycling, or driving tours on their own schedule without needing to gather in groups,” says Rutt. “It’s perfect for social distancing.”

As you move into re-opening, the rethinking revenue models, such as the revamped models mentioned above, can help you identify new opportunities to keep the cash flowing in any market conditions. With a bit of creative thinking, you could discover that your next enduring revenue stream is easy to implement and can provide value for years to come.

best books for small business owners

Best Books for Small Business Owners Series: The Innovator’s Dilemma

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As a small business owner, do you consider how exploring new ideas can lead to future success? If making time for continuous learning isn’t at the top of your priorities, you’re not alone. And we want to help. Reading or listening to business books can offer new perspectives and help you understand classic business lessons. So, follow our Monthly Must-Reads series! In this series, we share the best books for small business owners. We’ll save you time by helping you determine whether each book is worth your attention. For each featured book we:

  • Identify exactly which types of business owners will benefit from reading it
  • Summarize the main points
  • Share key take-aways and reader reviews

This month, we cover The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen. Check out the end of this article for our past must-reads.

Business Book:

The Innovator’s Dilemma, by Clayton M. Christensen

Focus:

To uncover two innovation types and to understand the purpose of and necessity for each of them.

Main Idea:

When companies disregard opportunities for disruptive innovation, they risk going into the shadows of more inventive start-ups.

Great for Small Business Owners Who:

Develop innovative solutions for niche markets, or have long-standing businesses and want to protect themselves from dissipating.

Synopsis:

The Innovator’s Dilemma identifies and explains two types of innovation: sustaining innovation and disruptive innovation. Sustaining innovation is the ongoing effort of listening to and improving from customer feedback. In this way, it satisfies customer’s current needs. Disruptive innovation helps companies evolve, to meet customers’ needs–often in an underserved market. Examples include the transition from digital to smartphone cameras, GPSs to navigation apps.

Christensen goes on to explain which types of companies typically focus on disruptive innovation and which ones lag behind—and why. He offers strategies for how both long-standing companies and new start-ups can successfully explore and benefit from disruptive innovation.

Key Take-Aways:

Large, well-resourced companies are more likely to ignore disruptive innovation and suffer because of it. They may not even notice niche markets. They might think that these markets aren’t offering enough rewards to compensate for the lack of credibility. These companies should continue their sustainable innovation efforts. They should also start paying attention to how niche markets want to use their products.

For start-ups and small businesses, disruptive innovation offers huge opportunities. They’re often first to market. Targeting small niche markets offers a more forgiving, cooperative and engaged customer base. Disruptive innovators don’t directly compete with larger, better-funded market leaders for customers. This means they have a higher chance of growing surprisingly quickly and unchecked.

Pursuing disruptive innovation can help companies take–or keep–their place as market leaders of the future.

Reviewers Say:

“Clayton Christensen’s The Innovator’s Dilemma…remains one of the most important business leadership books on the market… The pace of technological innovation has increased drastically… [but] the foundational principles remain the same—when companies are doing everything right, they can still lose their position of leadership in the market. Companies are incentivized to act in accordance with what their customers want, and if they are not careful, that mentality can preclude them from taking advantage of disruptive opportunities that their current customers are not yet interested in. Christensen’s warnings should be heeded by leaders and managers at all levels of the organization…. I look forward to reading about how the Innovator’s Dilemma can be addressed in this age of near-constant innovation and rapid technological advancement.”

“I’ve been involved in innovation most of my careers, and now wish I’d read this book much earlier. The simple but powerful thesis of the book is backed up by data and case studies from disparate industries. Like many business books it is a bit repetitive at the end… But the ideas and usefulness are five stars.”

Monthly Best Books for Small Business Owners:

August, 2019 – Blitzscaling

September, 2019 – The E-Myth Revisited

October, 2019 – Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

November, 2019 – Built to Last

December, 2019 – Multipliers

January, 2020 – Start with Why

February, 2020 – The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

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Preventative Measures for Small Businesses To Take During COVID-19

Preventative Measures for Small Businesses To Take During COVID-19

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With COVID-19 having broad impacts on the global economy, you might be wondering if there are preventative measures for small businesses to take to protect themselves and their customers during these uncertain times.

Indeed there are. Below you’ll find actionable steps that businesses operating in a wide array of industries can take to secure services, put customers at ease, and stay nimble as new information becomes available.

Bolster Inventory

One of the most important preventative measures small businesses can take during these earlier stages of the COVID-19 disruption is to bolster their inventory.

It’s time to examine your current purchasing practices. Pay special attention to your overseas suppliers that may be impacted by export delays. You’ll likely want to increase orders from a typical 30-day supply to a 60- or 90-day supply, especially for your most popular inventory. If you find suppliers challenged to meet your increased quantities, don’t be shy about exploring alternative suppliers. At the very least, you’ll establish new supplier relationships and lay the groundwork for securing operations during current and future market disruptions.

You’ll also want to take steps to bolster your internal inventory for things like office and cleaning supplies. Consider increasing your orders for your daily consumables. Purchases like copier/printer paper, shipping supplies, and in-office consumables like paper towels and toilet paper can all be stored. Whether supply chains get disrupted for these items or not, you’ll use them regardless.

Establish In-Office Protocols

Major consumer-facing businesses have made a proactive practice out of sharing their preventative measures with the public. Whether it’s an airline sharing aircraft disinfectant procedures or your local fitness club letting customers in on their cleaning methods, your customers and employees will appreciate your procedural transparency.

Let the people you rely on most to keep your business running know that you’re taking their health and safety seriously. Here are some tips for safety measures small businesses like yours can take to reassure your team and customers:

  • Office/store cleaning: Consider an email or in-store signage letting customers know your daily and overnight disinfectant procedures. Offer hand sanitizer pumps or wipes if you have shopping baskets or carts. Add additional wipes at checkout/customer service areas. Place paper towels instead of reusable fabric hand towels in all public restrooms.
  • Examine return policies: Explore whether you need to make adjustments to return timelines to accommodate a customer’s desire to limit public exposure. Also, examine how you’ll process returned items and sanitation procedures for returns if necessary.
  • Employee measures: If you haven’t already, now’s a perfect time for an all-hands meeting to discuss COVID-19, its impacts, and safety measures your company is taking. Ensure employees have a plentiful supply of disinfectant products like wipes, soap, and hand sanitizer. Establish a firm sick policy and consider a permanent adjustment to your paid sick leave time.
  • Leverage technology: Consider limiting employee travel (even out and about in town) to avoid unnecessary exposure. Implement digital meeting tools like videoconferencing to continue collaboration during times of limited mobility.

Using the tips above, you can both reassure customers and employees as well as continue business operations responsibly.

Stay Up-To-Date

New information comes out each day about the impacts of COVID-19. One of the most important preventative measures for small businesses is an ongoing commitment to awareness.

Establish a point person or team within your company to stay up-to-date on the latest news. This includes information about new cases, travel recommendations, safety suggestions, and more. The following sites can provide reliable, authoritative information on COVID-19:

Depending on how COVID-19 affects your region, you might consider closing your business for some time to prevent disease transmission. While not an easy decision, it could be a necessary one for safety. Always consider whether a temporary closure of your physical location(s) could benefit public health and make contingency plans for key employees to work remotely during times of potential closure.

With so much news coming out each day about COVID-19, it’s natural to feel a bit flummoxed. However, a bit of planning, a generous amount of communication, and some common-sense safety measures can make your team and customers feel more secure during unsettling times.

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How Customer Service Can Help Small Businesses Survive A Potential Slowdown

How Customer Service Can Help Small Businesses Survive A Potential Slowdown

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Customer service might be the key that helps many service-oriented SMBs survive slow supply chains caused by COVID-19.

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