More About Domain Names

Your domain name does a lot more than tell people where to find your Internet site. It doubles up as a search term or keyword. For that reason alone, it is worth getting a domain name that is also your key word search term. Here's an example:

Sally Morrish sells pet supplies in Sydney. She hasn't been in business for long, so she doesn't have a brand presence. If she bought a domain name like sallymorrish.com, nobody would ever search for it looking for pet supplies unless they knew her name. Very unlikely.

If she tried to buy the domain pet-supplies.com, she'd find it has already been taken. However, she can put something else with pet-supplies that hasn't been taken and still include the key words "pet supplies". Say she used, sydney-pet-supplies.com. How would she fare? You already know the answer!

Now, the catch is this. If Sally wants to sell outside Sydney, she can still use sydney-pet-supplies and hedge her bets by including the keyword Sydney and the key phrase pet supplies.

The message here for anyone about to get a domain name is to think about what is best for your business and what is available. A keyword domain name is more valuable than something obscure.

If you were a big name professional, say a photographer who was well known by name, like Steve Strike, you can get away with using your name as the domain name eg, www.stevestrike.net. If not, go for the keyword or words that best describe your business or service.

I wish I had known about that when I set up my domain name www.dwave.com.au in 1998.

Do you have your own domain name? Share it with us.

Robin

Improve Business Image with a Domain Name Email Address

When I'm given a business card, see an advertisement for a business or otherwise find business details that use a Hotmail, Gmail or ISP email address like miningcompany@bigpond.com, I immediately wonder how good the business is. After all, what real business can't afford a domain name?


There are numerous benefits to having your own domain name. One of them is that your domain name becomes your email name. For example,  Westpac Banking Corporation, a leading Australian financial institution has the domain name www.westpac.com.au. It has over 30,000 employees (huge for an Australian company, but miniscule in relation to some US companies.) All of these employees use an email address something like: jill.worker@westpac.com.au. When you want information you use an email address info@westpac.com.au.

What would you think of Westpac if its information was provided through an address like info-westpac@hotmail.com? Would you be concerned at just how good the firm was? How miserable it was? I would be wondering why it has to use a free email account.

If you are serious about your business and wish to promote a professional image, I highly recommend you get a domain name you can use for your business email. Here are a few options I have researched that are really inexpensive, but easy to set up:

GoDaddy.com

GoDaddy will enable you to set up ONE email address on it's top of the range server installation for as little as $0.99 USD per month. For 10 different addresses and unlimited storage, it's $2.49 per month at its cheapest. With this option you will also need your own domain name. a Dot Com name will cost you just a bit over $10 per year.

When you get your email addresses, you can have incoming email sent anywhere you like, to Gmail, Hotmail, MS Outlook or to any other email address. Or, use Go Daddy's webmail to access your email. It's your choice.

Ilisys.com

Ilisys, based in Perth, Western Australia is an excellent option for Australian residents who would prefer to deal with an ISP in Australia rather than someone like Go Daddy which is in the USA. I use both and they are excellent.

If you have an Australian Registered Business, you may wish to have a domain with the suffix Dot.Com.Au. If this is the case Ilisys can help you with a domain name and the email plan, both inexpensive options.

Global Domains International (I am affiliated with this site)

GDI provides limited hosting and web pages eg, a few pages that provide information about you or your firm and contact details etc, and a domain name of your choice (pending availability) for a ridiculous $10 US per month. If you don't want the Dot WS domain suffix, I understand you can choose an alternative at no additional cost.

Conclusion

If you or your business do not have a dedicated email address associated with your business, you are sending the wrong message to your customers or clients. Choose one of the options above and do something about it today.

Preferaby choose a domain name that is a keyword for your site or business eg, "business-consultant.com" is far better than meg-smith.com because more people will search for the former than the latter. Give some thought to your domain name and how it will be viewed by and found by customers.

Robin

PS: If you decide to set up a domain name with GDI or Ilisys and want help getting your Internet site set up, please email me to arrange. Email: ws @ dwave.com.au (without the spacing).

Does Your Business Need a Makeover?

When I drove by one of our local businesses recently, I saw an old, faded sign that had once proudly announced the business. I wondered why, if the senior manager or operative of the business walks into the entrance every day, he or she doesn't see the same tired old sign I saw and think about rejuvenating it.

Signage doesn't last forever as the example Coca Cola sign at left suggests. Like changes in fashion, colour schemes, office layouts, signage, uniforms, and other artifacts of a businesses image all begin to be dated and need updating. A new, modern colour scheme and style, a new company shirt can all do wonders to a firm's image.

There is a whole study about how colour affects people's behaviour ... positively and negatively. Just the colour a firm uses for its logo or uniform can make a world of difference.

I remember walking into the office of a law firm and seeing bare walls. Not a photo, painting or anything on any of the walls. It looked more like a mortuary than an office place. I asked the owner why there were no paintings and he said he wanted to create an image of professionalism and seriousness. I think he was just too cheap to invest in a few lovely paintings that would have brightened up the place and made people feel more at home.

You can bet your life that when people like Joe Kennedy III (grandson of JF Kennedy) runs for Congress, he will be surrounded by colours intended to make people feel good and vote for him. Politicians have been aware of the benefits of colour for years.

Take this opportunity to stand back and have a look at your business or organisation and see whether it needs a bit of a rejuvenation? Tell us what you find. Does it look energetic and interesting, or dull and boring?

Robin

 

Guaranteed: How to Lose Sales

One of the best ways guaranteed to lose sales is by not providing prompt replies to customer email enquiries.

I was reminded of this yet again when I emailed an Australian lottery company to enquire about my account. It's as though my email message has disappeared into the ether. It's over a week now and I haven't had a response.

If there's anything that makes me unhappy, it is being ignored by firms with whom I'm ready to spend money. Unfortunately, this firm has a monopoly and that may be why they don't care about my enquiry.

Not answering customers' email is guaranteed to lose sales. Why would you do business with someone who either doesn't care about it's customers or hasn't got the ability to run a modern, efficient email response system?

Get someone to test your email response system and see how good it is. If it's not providing timely responses, you need to address the issue.

These days you can set up autoresponders that reply immediately after receiving an incoming email. The smart approach is to include answers to common queries or at least links eg, to your current sales catalogue. Give your clients something and another link to contact you if what you have sent doesn't answer their request. If they email you a second time, make sure you answer within a suitable period ... the sooner the better.

Client contact is important and when they email you, they are setting up a relationship with you and your organisation. Take the opportunity to develop that relationship into a whole of life supplier - client relationship. Don't underestimate the value of life-time relationships.

So, what are you doing today? Checking your email system or just crossing your fingers and hoping everything will all be fine?

Robin

How Can You Work Smarter if You Don't Read?

How can you work smarter if you don't read?

After a bumpy start at education, in my late twenties I decided to try again and enrolled in part-time university classes. One of the first subjects for which I enrolled was Introduction to Management. Our set text was Management by James Stoner. My copy has long gone, but surprisingly, when I did an Internet search I found it is still in print.

I had a great lecturer and looked forward to my weekly three hour management classes. Not only did the course open up to me a lot of common sense ideas that I knew most managers weren't adhering to, it made me realise how easy most aspects of management are if only one is proactive. For example, Stoner talked about such sensible concepts as planning to avoid crises. And yet, where I worked, in the local police department, we ran into seemingly avoidable crises every day.

In the ensuing forty years (my oh my is it really that long?), I have read hundreds of other books about management and associated topics. The world has changed a lot during that time. Now there is more emphasis on international management, green or environmentally friendly management etc, but the basic principles of management have never changed. They involve planning, organising, leading and controlling.

The point I make here is that if you wish to run a quality organisation, you need to learn some of the theories available from those who have expertise in the various fields. As the world becomes increasingly complex, those who don't keep their finger on the pulse of what's happening, will be left behind.

What's the best book you have read that has helped you in business?

Robin