The 4 Biggest Factors in Your Small Business Website’s Success

By Rieva Lesonsky | In Internet, Mobile, Technology, Websites | September 5, 2014

Is your small business website poised for success? A recent poll asked Internet users what they expect from websites—and meeting their demands is actually pretty straightforward. Here’s what the study, the State of the User Experience Report, found are the most important things customers care about when visiting a website.

1. Website performance: A high-performing website loads quickly, streams without buffering and otherwise delivers from a technical standpoint. This is by far the most important thing customers care about, cited by 52 percent of respondents.

What defines “loading fast”? Sixty percent of consumers polled say they won’t wait more than five seconds for a Web page to load; about 20 percent won’t even wait three seconds. If a website doesn’t load quickly enough, more than 30 percent of respondents say they leave and buy from a competitor’s website instead.

2. Fresh, updated content: The second-most important factor in consumers’ experience. If you have an ecommerce website, it needs to be updated regularly, just like a physical store’s displays would be, to entice customers to buy new merchandise. If you create other types of content, such as blog posts or articles, those need to change regularly, too.

3. Consistency on mobile and desktop: This is the third most important factor, but can be the hardest for small companies to achieve. A whopping 85 percent of customers use mobile devices at least occasionally to go online, and more than half use mobile devices to go online “most of the time.” If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, don’t delay in getting it there—and keep in mind that 40 percent of customers expect your site to load just as fast on their smartphones or tablets as they do on their desktop computers.

4. Personalization: Personalization came in dead last on the list. While it is a hot buzzword in online marketing today, the news from this survey is that customers don’t care about personalization all that much. In fact, 40 percent of consumers don’t want a website to remember them from visit to visit. Concerns about privacy are still very real for online visitors, so a business’s efforts to personalize the online experience must tread a fine line. You don’t want to freak customers out by making them feel like Big Brother is watching them!

Does your small business website give prospective customers what they want? If you’re not meeting visitors’ expectations, they’re not going to stick around—and that can have a huge effect on your business. If your website is missing any of the key elements, take steps—now—to fix the problem and get your site back on track.

Gut Instinct vs. Data: Which Is More Important When Making a Business Decision?

By Saar Bitner | In Leadership, Starting A Business | August 30, 2014

I once heard a father telling his son that the best way to make a big decision in life is to ask 50 people for their opinions and then do what your heart tells you. This line of thinking proposes that research should be the first or foremost step of any big decision, and this certainly makes sense. It only stands to reason.

In business, however, many famous CEOs have discounted research and data and made some very tough calls based largely (if not solely) on their gut instinct – sometimes leading to riches and other times to catastrophic losses.

Take Steve Jobs, for example. He was famous for making critical decisions at Apple without first consulting fact-based business data. In 2010, Jobs accurately predicted that the tablet could actually overtake the PC one day, despite many data reports to the contrary. Following his intuition, in April of that same year, he launched the iPad, disregarding the many doubters who doomed it to fail.

As we know now, that decision has paid off: Apple sold more than 70 million iPads last year, and according to prominent Gartner Research, tablets should outsell traditional PCs for the first time in 2015.

On the flip side, there’s the example of Motorola and its CEO Gregory Brown. In 1998, Brown ignored all indications that the mobile phone was taking off and instead invested heavily in Iridium satellite phone technology, despite it already being obsolete. This failed venture cost the company $8 billion.

So the questions remains: Should we make the big calls based on gut or data?

The Holistic Approach: “Data-Informed Gut Decisions”

These business leaders aren’t alone in their reliance on that “inner feeling.” Richard Branson, famed founder of Virgin once said, “I rely far more on gut instinct than researching huge amounts of statistics.”

Similarly, a Fortune Knowledge Group study reports that 62 percent of executives feel it is often necessary to rely on gut feelings and soft factors when making big decisions on partnerships and proposals.

Yet recent economic history dictates that sound business data and experience should certainly weigh into the equation. In fact, new business intelligence (BI) technologies propose a better way to make important business decisions without betting the farm by using a hybrid approach: take all facts, statistics, and numbers into account, and only after empowering yourself with that knowledge, determine what your gut tells you.

There is simply too much at stake today to discount sound factual information, especially with the boom of business intelligence software that helps companies quickly and easily compile data and analyze it in easy to understand dashboards and reports. This provides businesses with powerful data-based insights, encouraging decision makers to take these insights into account before tapping into their gut feelings. These decisions are then transformed into “data-informed gut decisions,” and come with far less risk since they leverage both instincts and the added power of data analytics.

Business Intelligence Bridges the Heart and the Head

Today BI enables businesses to combine inordinate amounts of data from CRM systems, financial databases, web reporting, social media, and so much more, and intelligently synthesize this raw information, first with computers, then with our minds, and finally with our hearts. Data visualization brings this analyzed information to life and allows us to transform it into meaningful business intelligence, which we can use to make more informed, intelligent decisions that also feel right.

Don Valentine, the founder of Sequoia Capital, puts it perfectly by stating, “Follow your instincts,” which Michael Moritz interprets to mean, “Do your homework well, analyze things carefully, assess the options but eventually trust your judgment and have the courage of your convictions – even if they are unpopular.”

 There are simply too many inexpensive yet powerful BI tools on the market today to fall victim to a poorly chosen strategic direction based solely on instinct. It can literally be the difference between exploding corporate profits and imploding corporate destruction. Data analysis and gut decision-making must work hand in hand.

Data Is More Than Just Backup

Interestingly, research surrounding this topic supports the idea that decision makers today are taking a more holistic approach. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit (2014), “executives use data to confirm that their gut feeling and preexisting beliefs are correct.” In fact, according to their study, “57 percent (of senior business professionals) would reanalyze data if it contradicted their inner gut feelings.”

What this all tells us is that the best way to approach big decisions is to first consult as much factual data as possible, review it to discern what to take and what to discard, and then rely on a gut instinct to make the best call. With this approach, you have a far greater probability of making the right choice.

7 Nontraditional Interview Questions Every Executive Should Ask

By Kelly Walsh | In Hiring & Firing, HR & Career | September 1, 2014


Conducting interviews for a job position can be a daunting task. How do you know if you are getting to the real person? How can you differentiate between candidates? I once had a client tell me, “I’m so sick of getting the same answers when I ask, ‘Why did you go into engineering?’” I said, “I think it’s time for a new question.”

Of course, it is important to ask some of the basics. We want to know about the person’s skill base and experience. We want to know if they did their homework about our company. We want to know how they would handle themselves in difficult situations (thus the behavioral style interview questions that give a scenario or problem for the candidate to solve). Not only does an executive need to know that the person they hire is capable of performing the tasks at hand, but they should also know how they are going to fit into their new workplace.

Recruitment StrategyFinding people who are able to work well with others is a necessary component to operating a profitable business. We aren’t looking for identical team members, rather people with complementary skills who make a great team. Studies have shown that synergy is a powerful tool that can generate innovation. This is especially important in the current workplace since cultural diversity is at its all-time high, so creating a team where the different perspectives of individuals can maximize output is highly essential. Then, we all want to think about likeability as well. Hire a person with a likable personality and positive attitude, as well as a person who is a thinker and a doer.

First impressions can be everything, but what we see the first time isn’t always what we get because people are really good at telling the hiring manager what they want to hear. Candidates can easily prepare themselves for the questions that are commonly asked in an interview. Catch the interviewee off guard by asking questions that they won’t expect to be asked.

What was a hardship that you had to face, and how did you overcome it? This question will show how the interviewee is able to navigate through challenges and overcome obstacles.

What are you famous for? (variation “What are you known for?”) This gives the candidate an opportunity to tell you about their personal brand, which ultimately tells how they will represent yours.

When you walk into a room, do you prefer to be noticed or fly under the radar? This question will tell you whether a person is an introvert or extrovert (both can be great personality traits depending on the job position).

What does your morning routine look like? This question will provide better insight on how the interviewee systematizes their daily tasks.

When working on a team, what role do you like best? This will give you a window into the candidate’s comfort in different team roles. All roles are considered necessary, but someone who always needs to lead may not exactly fit your needs.

What are all of the possible uses for this (object)? Place an ordinary object like a Styrofoam cup in front of the interviewee and ask them to name as many uses it might have. You will get a window into his ability to think on his feet and be creative.

What slogan would you put on your own t-shirt? This question will reveal someone’s mantra, and possibly their sense of humor.

As an HR vet, I have to warn you not to color too far out of the lines. The questions should have a relationship to the job and stay legal. Pairing non-traditional interview questions with traditional interview questions will allow an executive to gain an even better notion of whom they are hiring. The synergy of a business is determined by the quality of those who make up the foundation of it. Incorporating questions that are less conventional is a way of lessening the risk of a hire and fire.

When Does a Customer Actually Become a Customer?

By John Jantsch | In Customer Service, Marketing, Marketing Strategy | September 2, 2014

For most businesses a customer becomes a customer when they buy a product, sign a contract, or agree to terms of a deal. But I wonder if that view of the journey to convert leads to sales misses the bigger reality.

What if, just for conversation sake, you began to view someone looking into your services as a customer. Or, better still, someone just beginning to talk about what they learned at your free workshop as a customer?

Now, it’s true, neither of the above “customers” has paid you a dime, but what if you began to run your entire business as though your job was not one of selling someone, but one of doing everything you could to build trust in those who expressed interest?

What if that group became customers in your mind at that point and you created tools and processes to start serving them right then and there?

What if instead of telling prospects how great you are, you demonstrated just what’s like to be a customer?

What if one of your primary marketing strategies was to make it very easy for people to try what you do?

What if you made your free content, workshops, and evaluations more valuable than the paid offerings from most organizations?

Do you think that might create an environment where customers would sell themselves?

For example, my company sells marketing consulting services. By its very nature, it’s hard to explain, hard to buy, and even harder at times to convince someone they need.

Due to that, we spend a great deal of time creating content and processes that simplify the service, package it in ways that are practical, and explain exactly how to do everything we propose to do.

This focus on education is what builds community, enables sharing, and initiates the process of trust building.

Once someone begins to consume the content to the point where they start asking if and how this might work for them, we focus on showing them.

Depending upon the need of the “customer” we offer an evaluation process guaranteed to provide them with solid, actionable steps, at no charge. Or, we offer to conduct a full fledged “Discovery” session with their entire Executive Team. We treat both of these offerings as though we are serving a customer and know that no matter the outcome, the customer will feel as though they received tremendous value.

This is an investment we are willing to make because it offers proof that we deliver and it keeps us focused on creating the most remarkable experience possible.

It’s worth noting that when we switched to providing a service over pitching a service our rate of conversion went from about 10% to 50%. While some of this can also be attributed to better education that led to more narrowly targeted prospects, a great deal is do to the significant mindset shift of when we view a customer a customer.

I’ve written often about this concept I call The Marketing Hourglass and the viewpoint described in this post is really just a manifestation of taking an end-to-end view of the customer journey that is the essence of the Hourglass concept. Obviously, the job is not over at this juncture, this is simply one of the stops on the path to creating a community of customer champions.

Using Strategic Partnerships to Grow Your Business

By Ann Gatty | In Business Planning, Marketing Strategy | September 2, 2014

Strategic partnerships can be beneficial for businesses with limited resources. When two companies that complement one another don’t have the funds to expand the way they would like to, or to reach the markets they wish to, they can form a strategic alliance to help accomplish their goals.

Here are recommendations to follow when considering strategic partnerships with your company:

1. Do Your Research

By carefully researching candidates for strategic partnerships company owners can assess how well the other company meshes with their business goals. This type of business alliance is an opportunity to enhance both companies by serving the same client base with different products or services. Business owners can greatly enhance their success opportunities by making certain that the partnership is a good fit before entering into a formal arrangement.

2. Identify Who Can Make Money With (or for) Your Business

Consider what businesses have the same target clientele, but offer different products/services. Also, as a business owner, consider what businesses working with your business can offer an enhanced product/service opportunity.

3. Clearly Identify What This Business Brings to Your Business Equation

Having a clearly written business plan in place, you know what goals you are trying to achieve. When considering a new strategic partnership, identify how this alliance can help you attain those goals. Also, you may find other goals become available from new emerging opportunities with this alliance. Then, take time to define the measurable contributions so that both are sharing equally in what is being brought to the table

4. Enter into a Trial Period

Even with the best laid plans, sometimes these strategic partnerships don’t turn out to be what you thought they would be. Before making a long-term commitment, try out the partnership for a trial period. Create a set of well-defined metrics that measure the results from this alliance so you can make a well-informed assessment. Be certain both parties are comfortable before the marriage.

5. Have a Way Out

Handshakes don’t provide the legal protection you need in the event that you determine this partnership is not working. It is best to develop a written contract with a walk-away clause. In addition, create a legal document that defines how information will be shared, revenue will be divided, and any assets assigned, before you begin working together. Strategic partnerships are wonderful opportunities for growing businesses if they are thoughtfully and purposefully created.

How to Create Secure Passwords You’ll Actually Remember

By Chris Marentis | In Guides, Internet, Productivity, Security | September 2, 2014

Password overload plagues just about every internet user. A forgotten password can be an enormous pain. A hacked site or social media page can easily be a reputation management nightmare. Research by Ofcom suggests 55 percent of adult internet users reported they used the same password for all or most websites in 2013. You don’t have to have a photographic memory to strengthen your passwords. You simply need to find a few tricks that will fend off cyber-attacks.

10 Most Common Passwords from Adobe

In 2013, Adobe experienced a substantial security breach. The 10 most common passwords were found from more than 48 million users. As a good first step, you might want to change your password if it matches most of these on any site.

123456

1234567

12345678

123456789

111111

123123

Password

Qwerty

Adobe123

Photoshop

Don’t Use Passwords with Identifying Information or Passwords That Are Easy to Guess

Think about password strength in terms of how difficult it would be for someone else to guess. “Password” is an extremely easy password to figure out in general. Also, “qwerty” is an easy keyboard pattern to figure out. Also, the commonly used birthday or nickname might not be much better either. Yes, others know what year you were born, what your nickname is, and your mother’s maiden name (and her birthday). Thank the dozen social media sites you go on every day.

Make Passwords Difficult to Crack with Clever Mnemonics

Come up with a short sentence or phrase that means something to you. Also, embrace 1337 (AKA leet or leetspeak). You can be a N00b and still use the semi-language for your passwords. Use symbols that look like letters instead of actual words. Instead of using a password about your love of caffeinated beverages that is a little too obvious, change “ILikeCoffeeInTheMorning” to 1l1k3K0F331nth3m0rn1ng!!!

What to Do About Multiple Sites

You don’t have to reinvent each complex password. You can take out “KOF33” (coffee) and change it to “T045T” (toast). Then get rid of a few of the exclamation points because toast is not nearly as exciting as coffee. Another clever way to remember which password goes where is to choose a food or breakfast item that starts with the same letter as the site the password is for. For example, use toast for Twitter, fruit for Facebook, and grapes for Gmail.

Use a Healthy Dose of Common Sense Every Morning

Protect your most important passwords, and don’t give them out to anyone who doesn’t absolutely need it. You don’t want to risk the reputation management nightmare that happens when your site admin password is hacked, changed, and you are locked out. Use a reputation management handbook for brand improvement instead of damage control. Similarly, change passwords every so often. Refrain from using default usernames and passwords, and you should be good to go.

Cyber security isn’t top notch yet. However, you can greatly reduce the chances of stolen passwords and massive damage by using a few tricks and ample common sense. Don’t send passwords to yourself over an email account that can be hacked, especially with the same password. Passwords do get stolen, but you can mitigate damages by containing unauthorized access to one site at a time.