“The challenge of the Information Age is to learn our customer’s language. And then to speak it so clearly that our voices can be heard over the din…”

Your online strategy and endeavors start and end, live and die with your CUSTOMER. Many strategies fail because business owners do not take the time to separate what they think their customers want from what their customers really want.

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I believe that success is in the plan. In everything I do, I always make a plan and then work out the plan. A while ago I stumbled on some  great information and tips to help you on planning a website project…

[Adapted from October Succeed Newsletter] Now is the perfect time to start planning your new website.  A good website can boost sales. If you create a solid plan and hire a good website development company, then you can have a website that goes live early in the New Year.

There are three steps to creating a successful plan: Scout, Sketch and Discuss…

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There are encouraging signs that the conditions in South Africa are at last getting ready for true ecommerce – the sale of goods and services online – to such an extent that owner-managed businesses and not just huge corporate retailers can start viable online shops. Consider the following:

• Last year, online retail sales surpassed the R1 billion mark for the first time, says internet researcher Arthur Goldstuck, who predicts that it will grow a further 20% this year despite the recession. It’s still a fraction of total retail sales, but is becoming increasingly difficult to sneeze at.
• The total number of internet users in South Africa grew a 12,5% last year to a total of 4,6 million people. The rate at which South Africans are ditching dial-up for ADSL or other broadband connections grew a whopping 50%, says Goldstuck.
• The arrival of Neotel’s Seacom submarine fibre-optic cable in June this year will increase South African broadband access a staggering 40 times, making internet access cheaper and internet shopping more comfortable.

But more telling than any of these statistics is the experience of Charles Meyer, the Centurion-based owner of www.pokerathome.co.za, a straight-forward ecommerce website that sells poker and bingo sets in South Africa.

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I had a very interesting conversation this morning about the effect of the Internet on marketing today. During the discussion, someone asked a really good question (the title of this post!) which got my mind thinking…

The Internet is a great leveler – both LARGE and small businesses can shine – because it is the cheapest (to my knowledge) marketing medium on the planet. The real winners on the Internet are people and companies which apply creativity and sustained effort to promote themselves, and be where people are looking for answers. With this in mind, and to answer the question, the three things every business can do RIGHT NOW to get noticed online are: 

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