You walk into a supermarket and you’re approached by a very friendly shop assistant who is offering a free sample of cake. You feel a little bit excited. Everyone likes free stuff. So, how do you feel about this supermarket? A tiny bit more positive perhaps – more inclined to buy the product?

It seems to be everywhere now – businesses offering stuff for free. But why?

Generates traffic

One of the primary benefits of offering something for free is that it generates traffic. The free product introduces the business and hooks likely buyers, with the result that the expense of handing out the free samples will be more than counterbalanced by the resulting sales. The big US companies such as Kraft, General Mills, Procter & Gamble, and Unilever think nothing of spending a couple of hundred dollars each day to set up a free sample stand inside a supermarket. But these costs are tiny compared to the good will that is being cultivated in the customers who are getting these free samples.

Creates grateful customers

When it comes to reaching consumers, free samples are often much more powerful, and much cheaper than traditional advertising. If enough people try the product then some of them will decide to buy simply because they’ve gotten a freebie and, consciously or not, somehow feel obligated to pay the company back. Researchers have discovered that shoppers who’ve received freebies in the supermarket are more likely to buy the products given away, and to even become loyal customers.

Positive brand recognition

By giving something for free, you’re investing in positive brand recognition. People love to get something for free with no strings attached even if the product is worth little. In fact, the word ‘free’ makes the product and the company or brand more appealing.

It has a positive impact on how they regard your brand and it makes people more willing to give something in return. For example, businesses will give away free eBooks or white papers in return for contact information. People are more likely to respond to a favour with another favour. Rather Inventive offer freebies in the form of their book, Be Sociable, in the hope that it will tell people a little bit about the business, and garner a positive attitude towards it.

If you’re a small business owner then the word ‘free’ can be a little scary. You’re in business to make money after all. But by now you can see that there are various benefits that free samples and giveaways provide. Sometimes the benefits are not seen immediately but are contributing to the positive perception of your business, but at other times the benefits may be more immediate.

So, how can you harness the value of ‘free’ to make your business more successful?

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Photo credit: Myrtle Beach TheDigitel  – FREE Samples

No matter what industry you’re in, if you’re a small business you probably feel like a tiny plankton in a huge ocean. So, what can you do to stand out?

One effective route to success is to become an authority within your field. After all, there’s nothing that brings in new clients better than being considered an expert. You can do this in several ways. You could do interviews, write a book or introduce innovative new products.

Possibly the most difficult route, but one which cannot fail to get you noticed is to solve your industry’s biggest problems. By addressing the bone-aching problems within the your industry you will set your company apart by showing yourself to be knowledgeable about your subject and aware of its shortcomings, and to care enough to want to find a solution.

Let’s look at an example in the electronics manufacturing industry. New standards and regulations are pushing electronic manufacturers to consider their social responsibility when making decisions and to include sustainable engineering strategies to satisfy the growing trend for environmental awareness. The entire lifecycle of a product must be considered; from manufacturing, with the use of harmful chemicals and human exposure; to consumer use, with the consumption of energy; to the end of its life, with waste disposal and complex disassembly.

This costs money and in an industry with steadily shrinking margins and higher product performance and quality expectations, this can be a real problem. Yet, electronics manufacturing leaders will define the solutions and find a way to make it work. They will work to ensure continuous process improvement and will invest in systems and processes, and then they will share those solutions.  

If your business is seen to be the one to introduce a workable solution to a problem. Not only will potential customers become aware of who you are, but fellow industry experts will consider your company to be at the sharp end of the industry.  

How do you become an authority in your industry? Here’s a step by step guide to becoming a problem solver in your industry;

1. Work out what the problems are – If you’re already running a small business within a certain field of expertise, you probably already have a handle on what the issues are. So, clearly define the problem you want to solve.
2. Why does the problem exist? – Now that you have the issue you want to eliminate, have a look at why it exists.
3. Narrow down solutions – There may be several different ways to approach a problem. But concentrate on just one or a couple of clearly-explained solutions otherwise you risk overwhelming and confusing people.
4. Break it down – It’s all very well having a fantastic solution to a problem, but if nobody knows how to put it into action effectively, chances are it won’t be used until another business gets hold of it, tweaks it and takes all the credit. Break down your suggested resolution into a step-by-step actionable plan. This will make your suggestions easier to digest, understand and implement and more people will follow through to completion, making your problem-solving strategy more successful.
5. Repeat steps one to four – So, you’ve successfully solved an industry problem? But your solution will only put you at the top of the list until another business swoops in to solve the next problem.

If you make it your mission to solve the problems of your industry as they arise you’ll establish yourself as a business who can lead the pack. Set yourself apart as an industry expert and you will reap the rewards that it brings.

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Photo credit: David, IMG_4151

 

What is trust?

In a previous blog post, I spoke about how Simon Sinek refers to ‘Start with why’, an interesting concept about how presenting ‘why’ you do what you do can get people on your side. But at the heart of the ‘Start with why’ theory is the idea of trust. Trust is a feeling of security one has, based on the belief that someone is reliable, good, honest, and effective. Trust is what your employees, customers and clients need so that they can hear your ‘why’ and know that it is the truth.

Trust is critical in any relationship, and is just as true in business. To build a successful business there must be trust permeating the relationships throughout the organisation – between leaders to employees, employees to employees, and employees to customers.

According to the 2017 Edelman trust barometer, the world population’s trust in all four key institutions — business, government, NGOs, and media — has declined. In this climate, “People’s societal and economic concerns, including globalization, the pace of innovation and eroding social values, turn into fears”. This is why building trust in your business is more important today than ever before.

How much trust is in your organisation? In business interactions, we can usually intuitively feel when trust is lacking. Without it, there are the underlying feelings of resentment, undermining, avoiding and game-playing among employees.

I am very well acquainted with one such business; it is a hotbed of gossip; there is an undercurrent of frustration at the management; and rather than unity there is stress and low productivity where fake camaraderie, petty squabbles and backstabbing were everyday occurrences. Does that sound like an environment that puts trust at the heart of its operations?

Trust within an organisation creates a healthy work environment. It forms the foundation for effective communications, staff retention, motivated members, and contributions of energy and, according to studies, there is also significant link to sales, profits, and turnover in organisations with a high level of trust.

How to build trust in your organisation

So, do you think your organisation might be lacking in the trust quota? If so, here are a few things you can do to ensure that trust remains one of the most important features of your business.

Act with sincerity and integrity

Probably the bedrock of trust, keeping your promises will set you up as reliable and dependable. What immediately follows is strong trust and respect. If you frequently make commitments but fail to keep them, you’ll see only frustration and self-serving behaviour – not conducive to long-term successful relationships. Also, offer your true perspective on matters, align your words and actions, and be consistent in your behaviour.

Listen

Listen to and act on feedback, even if it’s negative. If colleagues, employees or customers feel listened to they will more likely feel trust for you and your business. Demonstrate caring and unconditional positive regard to others’ point of view, even if you disagree with them.

Handle crisis well

Do your utmost and encourage others in the organisation to turn a negative situation to your advantage by going over and above to handle a crisis effectively, and you will be cultivating trust

Be transparent

Own your failures, and learn from them.  Share them so that others can learn from them too. It will help you bounce back better and higher than before.

Encourage ideas and innovation

Be well informed – have views on industry issues, and encourage others to. Put your efforts into finding solutions. Don’t tread water; it’s the fastest way to obscurity.

Communicate well

The way companies communicate has a great deal of influence on the amount of trust employees and clients have for them. Be direct, be spontaneous not rehearsed, be blunt not diplomatic and polite. Give personal experience over data – what does it mean in real terms. Also, make good use of social media – a two-way means of communicating, rather than direct advertising, which is one way and doesn’t give customers a platform on which to communicate their views.

Support others

Use your skills and knowledge to support others’ work. Serve all parties’ best interests. It will bolster everyone’s positive regard of you and therefore their trust in you.

How employees create your success

Ultimately, for a successful business you must treat your employees well. They should be at the heart of the business. They are, after all, the people who know the most about your organisation, your products and services and the market. Invest in them regularly. Employees who remain in one place (physically and emotionally) will grow bored and weary.

Employees want to understand why they are doing things, they want to know the difference that they make, and they want to trust and to know that they are trusted to deliver. They will be willing to go the extra mile to ensure that your business goals are met. If on the other hand, they learn that they are not valued and that winning is the ultimate prize, then they’ll begin to think less about trying something new and different and instead focus on self-preservation. The result may be reliable workers, but it will diminish trust and stunt your business’ growth.

Express genuine appreciation up, down, and across your organisation and you will hear your staff say, ‘We’re in this together’.

Trust leads to a happy, productive workplace that can handle anything and will continually move the organisation forward. In these days of inherent mistrust in large corporations, it is important, over everything else you do, to cultivate an environment of trust. It is a non-negotiable facet of a successful business – you cannot have one without the other. In a successful business it is the relationships you forge—and the trust you create—that matter most.

 

Photo: Ideas Alchemist, Trust

Why should your customers choose your business over all the thousands of others doing the same thing?

According to Simon Sinek, motivational speaker and marketing consultant, when we’re trying to influence others we need to start with why.

We could be selling a product or service, looking for employment, employees or seeking funding – the important thing, Sinek says, is to start with telling people why you are doing it. He says;

“People don’t buy what you do,
they buy why you do it”

Sinek refers to his Golden Circle – the outer edge of which denotes the what. In every industry, including yours, there will be hundreds of businesses doing the same thing. He explains that the businesses that use what to sell products need to manipulate customers into buying their product or service. People will come to this type of business because it offers low prices, freebies, novelty (under the guise of innovation) to compete with others all doing the same thing. This doesn’t breed loyalty or create trust.

The reason why you do what you do is likely to be different for every company. This could be your company’s sense of purpose, it’s beliefs, its values – whatever it is that underpins its reason for existing. This is what attracts people to your business and keeps them returning.  

The goal to influence in business is no longer about the practical aspects of doing business. Consumers have a wealth of choice for every service or product they could ever desire. It’s about the emotional aspect and how connecting with a certain business can make them feel. So as a business, connecting to the group of people who ‘get’ why you do what you do is the key to business success.

What do successful businesses do differently?

Seth Godin explains in his book, All Marketers are Liars that the most successful companies are those who fit into the worldview of their customers and offer something different that these customers value. They use an effective, authentic story to make a better and more lasting impression on customers who will say ‘I’m willing to turn down a better offer or product elsewhere to do business with you.’ because they can relate to your company beliefs and feel as though they belong.

Steve from Efficient Thinking Solutions is a client of Rather Inventive. Steve loves to solve problems. It gives him a sense of purpose and fulfilment to put systems and processes in order so that businesses can get the most out of their employees. Steve’s ‘what’ – to offer the service of consulting for businesses and helping to improve their productivity – is the proof of what he believes. It’s his values and his guiding principles that fuel his business, not the other way around.

How do you get staff on board?

When it comes to selling your company to your staff, so that they are working for something they believe in, it’s the same principle. Sinek says a company should be a group of people with a common set of values and beliefs. This is what keeps the company moving in the same direction, giving everyone a sense of belonging and working together to achieve goals and solve problems. This can only happen when a leader demonstrates his beliefs and his values about the company. Without it, the staff will be working only for pay and will jump ship at the first sign of trouble.

So, do you know why you do what you do, and can you shout about it? Do you hold yourself accountable to that reason, every time you work?  Make sure everyone knows your why and they’ll keep coming back.

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Photo credit: Walter Lim, Start With Why Diagram

 

I interview Tanya and Dave, owners of The Priory Inn (Tetbury), on how they’ve improved quality and sustainability, by insisting on buying only from suppliers within a 30-mile food zone, and the restaurant’s continuous development using ‘Lean manufacturing’ principles.

Find Tanya on Twitter @ThePrioryInn or visit www.theprioryinn.co.uk and book a table. I can recommend the pizza.

• Lean manufacturing
• Strawberry and blue cheese pizza!
• 30 mile food zone policy suppliers at The Priory Inn
• Holy Smoked Cheese
• Priory staff visit to Uley brewery
• Barter at the back door
• Award winning Stargazy Fish Bar

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Photo Credit: The Priory Inn

I catch-up with Becca Wild from Photopia to find out why she and partner Simon decided to create a rather unique recipe book, and in my opinion an epic project, while continuing running their photography business and expecting a child.

Find Becca on Twitter @PhotopiaUK  or visit photopiaphotography.co.uk.

• Met at Hereford Tweet Up
• Chase Marmalade Vodka. They make rhubarb flavour too!
• First book Made in Hereford with help from Jo Hilditch
• Second book Made in Shropshire, foodily supported by Beth Heath

Christmas is upon you and that means hundreds of choices staring you in the face – what gifts to buy for whom, venues for the Christmas do, what to eat at the Christmas do, what to wear to the Christmas do, blah de blah. It’s enough to give you indigestion before you’ve even taken a sniff of turkey.

Christmas is just the tip of the choice iceberg, every aspect of your life; what you buy, how you work, how you eat, how you run our business is all encumbered by choice. If you don’t take control you can drown in it, and so can your customers.

Our society is built on the idea that choice is a good thing and to some extent I would agree, after all who wants to be limited to one TV channel, but we’ve taken this idea to extremes when the average supermarket now sells hundreds of different types of cheese.

Every day your customers are served by millions of people who work to make billions of products just to offer choice – everything can be personalised to our individual tastes. Decaf soya cappuccino? Double expresso light or a machiatto? Don’t want either? Well then how about a short, tall, skinny, decaf or iced Latte instead? You can have whatever you want, when you want it. The problem is that the decision becomes more difficult the more choice you have.

Barry Schwartz in his book The Paradox of Choice, says that at the point where the effort to make an informed decision overtakes the benefit of having a choice, then “choice no longer liberates but debilitates. It might even be said to tyrannise.”

So, are you drowning your customers in choice? Columbia Business School Professor Sheena Iyengar, a psycho economist gave a TED talk about how businesses can improve the experience of choosing. She says that because our brains simply can’t categorize and choose as well with so many options in front of us… “We choose not to choose even when it goes against our best self interests”.

When already faced by a barrage of choice at Christmas you might just be tipping your customers over the edge by adding more to their proverbial table, resulting in their disengagement and dissatisfaction. So, imagine your company makes choosing a product or service a much simpler process. Where there is no need for endless comparing and contrasting. Your customers will walk away having made a decision they’re happy with, rather than feeling overloaded, and you’ll feel that tinge of satisfaction when a happy customer sings your praises on social media.

Here are a few tips that Professor Iyengar recommends for keeping your customers from feeling overwhelmed;

Eliminate choices to make decision-making easier in your business.

Cut down the number of products and options your company offers. Keep the best sellers but cull the lowest-sellers. “When Procter and Gamble went from 20 different kinds of Head and Shoulders to 15, they saw an increase in sales by 10 percent,” Iyengar says. Less is more. If you are willing to slim down on products, sales increase and costs go down. It’s a win/win.

Help customers focus on a specific, positive outcome

Linking your customer’s choice with a concrete aspect of their life and how it may be affected will help them choose better. For example, ‘These wall tiles will help you achieve a sophisticated and serene bathroom, helping you to bathe in style’ will plant the image in their heads of your wall tiles on their walls. Customers need to see how your service will improve their lives without too much mental effort.

Categorise

If you must have hundreds of products and services, then categorise them into easy-to-follow classifications on your website to help your customers navigate their way around. Ease them in first. For example, offer one or two categories each with choices within. Make it a simple-to-navigate website. Limit the jargon and blocks of texts if possible too.

Help customers by ‘conditioning for complexity.’

Yours may be a company whose very nature is to offer a thousand choices, perhaps you sell ceramic wall and floor tiles for instance. If the first decision your customer has to make has fewer categories and options than the following ones, they will be more likely to participate in ongoing decisions rather than disengage. This is called ‘conditioning for complexity’.

In order that you don’t overwhelm your customers with choice you need to be selective in what products you offer. Avoid being that restaurant that offers too much choice. Not only because it means that by doing too much you will not do anything particularly well, but also because too much choice, at the very least, will leave customers not wholly satisfied with their decision. It may, at worst, have them running in the opposite direction.

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Photo Credit: Menu Board – Yugamama

Brilliant episode from NPR’s Planet Money podcast on the power of free. (for those without flash you can listen online here)

“Free has the power to make us do completely irrational things. It can drive us to break rules, and take risks we never thought possible. It can make us feel savvy and smug and exhilarated.”

It’s just under 20 minutes so perfect to listen to on your tea break.

Most interesting to me (11:38 mins in) was the idea of charging for something people don’t expect to pay for such as your mother charging for a family meal or an airline charging for customer service (one airline actually did this!). What would you expect to get for free?

I provide free advice so people can get a feel for our process but I used to struggle with how far that free advice would stretch, often into many follow-up emails and becoming a time suck, and it put me off offering anything for free at all which then in turn put off people who needed a little re-assurance of how we can help.

I found setting a clear boundary for what’s free and what’s not enabled me to offer the advice knowing there was a limit which was communicated upfront. Should people want only the free advice then they tended to use their time wisely.

I am now happy to offer my advice for free if I’m out networking or other similar event, either as a talk or just casual conversation or as a one off coaching taster session. After that, get your wallet out.

Are you charging for something people expect for free? Or are you not charging for something people would pay for? Let me know on Twitter @benkinnaird.

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Image credit: Libre Sign by Gisela Giardino

After receiving an intriguing promotional book called “I didn’t know they could do that” from Print Strategy I wanted to find out how well it’s been working for them so got in touch with MD Rob Newton¹. We also talked about the future of print and how it’s beneficial to modern marketing.

Follow Print Strategy on Twitter @printstrategy or visit their website printstrategy.eu.

• Yummy, Graze food boxes
• “I didn’t know they could do that” portfolio book
• Pact coffee – Fresher, better-tasting coffee, delivered to you as you need it.

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1. This is my first Skype interview, I’ve love to hear what you think of it on Twitter @BenKinnaird.

I stand at a networking event in Cheltenham¹. I’m not here to sell anything, simply to meet a few people who may or may not be useful to know. Initially I have to force myself to go say hello to unfamiliar people, but I am welcomed warmly, like an old friend into a mix of people who, like me, are there simply to socialise in a professional capacity.

I used to have this vision of networking events as disingenuous and very formal business environments, full of high flying, self-promoters who are there simply to sell their services. To stand in a room of unfamiliar people, drink in hand, forced smile on face and an equally forced interest in other people’s work, making small talk until the opportunity comes to sell, sell, sell, seemed more than a little false. I could never quite get over the feeling that I was pretending to be someone I wasn’t, trying to sell something no-one wanted to buy. It’s incredibly daunting. But I’m not alone – it seems that many of us avoid networking events for fear that we will be seen as being ‘fake’.

Don’t get me wrong; there are networkers like that. In my experience there are ‘takers’, those who are there simply to try to sell their services, who have no real interest in others; who strike up a conversation only to launch into a well-rehearsed pitch for their business. Most of us can spot a ‘taker’ from one hundred paces.

And then there are the ‘givers’; those who show a genuine interest in the lives of others, who are there to build mutually beneficial relationships, share ideas, ways of working, to find common ground or unexplored avenues. They ask questions, delve into the detail of another’s working life. They ask about work projects or industry news.

Most people like to talk about themselves. Give them the opportunity to talk about what they do and they will leave the conversation with a more favourable impression of you and will be more interested in following up, giving you the opportunity to offer some help².

Few of us are naturals at building rapport with complete strangers, but if we want to expand our client base, develop business partnerships, find a better job or find better staff, then it is a necessity. Thankfully, it gets easier the more we do it. And, research shows that the more powerful we become in our working lives, the easier networking becomes because we have more to offer, making our interaction with others more about giving rather than taking. So, if we were to change our mindset to one that is more altruistic, to consider what we can offer rather than take, and give people the opportunity to talk then we are likely to feel more comfortable in networking situations.

Take a long-term view and show sincere interest in the other party then there is no reason to feel like a fake. If you are a naturally caring and thoughtful person, this won’t be difficult. Provided it’s authentic, a compliment is a great conversation starter that will help build initial rapport. If you’re not, you may want to cultivate this life skill, it will reap huge benefits in the form of connections, which might, one day turn into clients.

For a more in-depth look at networking and its benefits, take a look at this Harvard Business Review article.

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1. The event was Laptop Friday if you’re interested
2. This advice also works for online networking in social networks

Image credit: Working hard at #LaptopFriday

Effective communication happens when a message is delivered that has the same meaning for the recipient as it does for the sender. In project management this means that you and your client have a mutual understanding of what the project is about.

As I mentioned in the recent post on flexibility, a project is likely to evolve as it progresses; our client may have a completely different vision of what they want at the beginning of a project compared to the final result because of the changes along the way. To effectively integrate these changes into the project means that we need to maintain a good level of communication with our client.

The main objective for our client Abbot’s Hill School was to make changes to their school website so that it was “much clearer, much easier to navigate, have more items of interest on the home page including the school video, links to social media and current news items.” The client “wanted to ensure that information was easy to find for both prospective and current parents, which meant a revised main navigation menu and the ability to have a range of sub pages.”

We met with Alison and Katie from Abbot’s Hill School to discover every aspect of the project as they saw it, and after the initial meeting we produced a full summary.

“RI was able to suggest various ways that [our project objective] could be achieved. They then produced a comprehensive project plan, including timescales and costs.”

We then used Basecamp, a project management tool, to update the project as it progressed, to track any changes and to ensure that throughout the lifecycle of the project all parties (the client, our team and brand designers Kilvington) had a comprehensive understanding of required tasks. This meant that all involved could see the current status of a project at any time.

“This dialogue continued throughout the process with the use of Basecamp which worked brilliantly to have a running summary of all our actions and changes to the project in one place and I felt RI really understood what I wanted to achieve.”

Communication for us means supporting the client so that they know exactly what is happening. Whether it’s a large project or many small projects, all the information in one place means that the pace of a project is sustained, all parties maintain control of the project’s progress, and those with different responsibilities and levels of involvement are better engaged in the project.

“I felt totally supported by RI throughout the project and I thought we worked really well as a team to achieve the final result.”

We acknowledge that for our clients their project with us is just one of many tasks on their to-do list. With a central system of control, such as Basecamp, every issue related to the project, whether large or small, a request or question is easy to track, with task responsibility, a full history and deadline reminders. Which means that project update emails don’t get lost in the sea of other work.

Effective central communication saves money, time and effort. Without it problems can easily arise: lost time (which means lost money), inefficient development, delays and products that don’t meet expectations. Ultimately, the reputation of the company and the client’s trust are at risk.

“The overall knowledge, skills and experience that RI has is impressive and I was delighted with the high level of customer service throughout the project from all members of the team. […] I would not hesitate to recommend RI to anyone and I am absolutely delighted with our new website.”

The success of any project will be contingent upon many different factors depending on the nature of your business. But there are some vital aspects that are universal; good communication, the alignment of the project’s objective between parties, and knowing what success means for each.

Know what success looks like

Some clients may not know exactly what the success of their project looks like initially, and we’ve found that the nature of any project may change and evolve during implementation. For this reason we believe that a degree of flexibility in our approach is required, and a successful project for us relies upon our ability to be flexible so we can meet the client’s own evolving requirements for success.

We worked with UCL Institute of education Families and Food in Hard Times Project. Their research examined the food practices of young people aged 11-15 and their families in Portugal, the UK and Norway, in a time of European austerity. The objective of the project was to provide a website with information for study participants and research beneficiaries including academics, NGO’s, the media and general public.

We set out to explore what UCL wanted from the website and discuss what a successful project looked like to them. They wanted a website that provided a source of public engagement to allow those involved with the project to both engage with participants by disseminating information relevant to them, and to serve as a touchpoint to view latest news, keep in touch and update contact details. It was also important to UCL that the website was easy to update and manage.

Be flexible

Rebecca O’ Connell, Senior Research Officer said, “[Rather Inventive] worked with us to understand the look and feel we wanted and were very flexible as our ideas evolved during development. I felt fully supported, that it was OK to make revisions and to change my mind – as someone who is not experienced in website design this was important. 

By defining what project success looks like beforehand, and reviewing progress on a regular basis to take into account any changes and revisions, each party knows exactly what they are striving for. For us this means taking the time to ensure everyone involved in the project has a chance to contribute, and to be open about what they need from the project’s completion. This involves meeting face to face, wherever possible. “[Rather Inventive] spent time understanding the project and our needs and have been incredibly responsive,” said Rebecca O’ Connell.

What does a successful project look like for your company? How can you work more flexibly with your project partners to make sure that all objectives are met? Let us know on Twitter by mentioning @RatherInventive.

A guide to choosing the right search terms for your business

First things first. What are keywords? They are the words or phrases that someone looking for a business or service like yours will type into a search engine to find you. And if those words and phrases don’t feature in the content, their website won’t come up when someone types them into a search engine.

As a general rule, your keyword list shouldn’t be very long. (If you’ve got 150 words or phrases in your list, you’re either running a multinational business with hundreds of products or you’ve got too many words on the list). Around 10 to 12 words or phrases is plenty for the average site.

So how do you choose them?

 

Part one: brainstorming and choosing

Brainstorm all the words that come to mind when thinking of your business. Don’t worry at this stage how many you’ve got. Now look at each of them in turn and ask “if I was looking for a business like mine, would I type this into Google?”. There are three possible answers:

• yes
• no
• only if I combine it with one (or more) other words or phrases in the list.

Remove all the “nos” from the list and combine all the “only ifs”.

 

Part two: checking and exploring

The next step is to check your list.

Enter them into Google (or your search engine of choice) and see what comes up. If your competitors or websites similar to yours are coming up, you’ve probably got the right keywords. If they aren’t, you can remove them from the list.

Ask your customers what they would type into a search engine if they wanted to find a business like yours. If they match yours, that’s great. If they don’t, add them to the list.

Use Google’s keyword research tool. This will provide you with suggestions you may not have thought of. It will also give you an idea of how competitive your chosen keywords are so you can assess your chances of appearing high up in the rankings. And this is extremely important.

 

Part three: assessing the competition

The last and perhaps most important step in this process is to assess your chances of appearing high up in the results when people search for them.

Let’s take an example. If you sell cars, you might think your top keyword is “cars” and that you need to be on the first page of results when people search on “cars”. But realistically

• you won’t be
• you don’t want to be (honestly!).

You won’t be because you’ll be competing with every single website in the world that’s about cars. The chance of being in the first one hundred pages, let alone the first page or the number one spot are remote, to say the least. Optimise your site on the word “cars”, you’ll never be found by your potential customers. The result? A website that isn’t doing its job.

But why don’t you want to be? Because anyone searching for the word “cars” is unlikely to be looking for you. They’ll be looking for photographs, to find out how they work, to find out how many there are, etc etc. The one thing they aren’t doing is looking for you. So if you did manage to get onto the first page, you’d get lots of visitors, certainly. But how many would turn into customers?

Optimise your site on the type of car you sell (luxury cars, vintage cars, red cars) and where you are (Herefordshire, Norfolk ) instead and you’ll only be competing against other people who sell the type of cars you do where you do. So your chances of being at the top of the rankings are better. What’s more, if people type “vintage cars for sale Herefordshire” into a search engine, they’re definitely looking for you. The result? A website that’s doing its job.

Think of it like this. If you work in a shop, you don’t need every person in town visiting your shop, you just need every person who is looking to buy what you sell. Get your keywords right and you’ll attract those people.