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Newsletter - January 2007

Recent Changes to the Companies Act - Effective as of 1 January 2007

10 Misconceptions That Can Derail Your E-Commerce Business: You Can't Sell to SMEs Online

Recent Changes to the Companies Act - Effective as of 1 January 2007

If your business is a corporation, you need to be aware of some recent changes in legislation. As of 1 January 2007, you must include some very specific information on your websites, in your email footers, and on other forms of business communication.

If you fail to do so, you will now be in violation of the Companies Act 2006. Here is a look at some of the most common questions you might have about this Act.

What do I need to include on my website?
Your website must include:

Your company name, if it is different from your trading name
Your registration number if your business is a limited company
Your place of registration
The address of your registered office
The name of your business

Simply including a "Contact Us" form on your site will no longer be good enough. You must also include the details specified above.

Do these requirements apply to me even if I do not sell products or services on my site?
Probably. Many business owners mistakenly believe these requirements do not apply to them if they do not sell online. In fact, the Companies Act applies to all Web sites of limited companies. Therefore, it is best to include the information in order to guarantee you are not in violation of the legislation.

Does the information need to be placed in a certain area or written in a specific manner?
Yes and no. The required website information must be written in characters that are easy to read, but you can choose the font and size. You can also decide where to place the information, so long as it is in a location that is easy for your site visitors to find and read.

Does the required information need to be included on every page?
No. It only needs to appear in one area of your Web site. In addition, you may already have all or most of this information in place. The most common area for placement of this information is on the 'Terms of Use', 'Terms and Conditions' or on the "Contact Us" page, but you can place it wherever you like.

Do I need to include this information on any other type of business correspondence?
Yes. The same information must also be included in your email footers and on all of your order forms. Legislation had previously required this information to be placed on all business letters, but the update to the Act now requires the information to be on all electronic business letters and order forms as well.

Do I need to include this information on all of my email correspondences?
Technically, no. At the same time, it can be difficult to differentiate between what is and what is not an electronic "business letter." Therefore, in order to avoid accidentally violating the law, it might be a good idea to simply include this information on all of your business correspondence.

Is there anything else that needs to be included on my Web site or in my business communications?
If you are an online business that sells to consumers as opposed to other businesses, you also need to follow the guidelines as set by The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000. Look out for an article covering the Distance Selling Regulations next month.

Five Steps to Writing Persuasive Copy

When your visitors come to your website, the single most important tool you have to draw them in and convince them to give your offerings a try is your copy. Great design, catchy colours, and good navigation structure are important to any site, but if your writing isn't persuasive, your visitors won't stick around long enough to care.

How to Create Copy that Hooks Your Website Visitors

Here are five steps to creating flowing copy that convinces your visitors that they are in the right place.

Be Eye-Catching. When visitors first arrive on a site, they spend a whopping four seconds scanning the page to decide if they are in the right place. That means you've got four seconds to catch their interest and get them to stay. Keep your writing tightly focused and make your points' clear and obvious right at the beginning. Using headlines and bulleted lists can help your readers understand your message, even when skimming.
Create Coherent, Effective Copy. Many websites get so wrapped up in ranking for specific keywords that they forget that the people who will be following those keywords want to read captivating, engaging text. Read your copy out loud to make sure that it has a natural rhythm that flows from one concept to the next.
Keep the Reader Moving Forward. Imagine Tarzan swinging through the jungle from one vine to the next. Each paragraph in your copy is a swing, and the end of each paragraph is the jump to the next vine. To ensure that your readers make the jump instead of simply sliding down the vine and going home, give them an exciting hook to keep them reading. Strong verbs and a vivid and passionate writing style will keep your visitor moving forward until the end of your page.
Eliminate Trees. Take care not to interrupt your copy's flow by breaking your visitors out of the persuasive story you are telling and causing them to stop their forward momentum. Bad spelling, poor or awkward grammar, and obvious factual errors will turn your visitors off and deter them from continuing their visit.
Show Them Where to Go Next. Once you have successfully convinced your site visitor to progress from the beginning to the end of your copy, don't leave them alone. Use clear calls to action to convince them to take the next step, whether it be finding more information or making a purchase.

Good website copy can be the difference between a bustling, profitable website and yet another failed venture. If you are not sure that your writing is up to the task of persuading visitors to become paying customers, then hiring a professional copywriter will be one of the best investments your company could make.

If you wish to review the persuasiveness of your website copy, call 01242 570330 for a no-obligation consultation.

Reviewing Your Online Sales Strategy

An old year has drawn to a close, and the New Year is full of opportunities to grow your business. If you are looking for ways to ensure that the current year is the best one ever, now is an excellent time to consider your online sales and marketing plan.

Does the New Year Call for a New eMarketing Plan?

Growing a business without a solid marketing plan is like building a house without a blueprint. Sure, your house might have some nifty features here and there, but chances are that nothing is going to fit together properly, you'll have no overall look or style, and you'll spend two or three times the amount of money necessary to keep it from collapsing like a house of cards.

If you do not have an online marketing plan, you will not be able to judge which areas are succeeding and which need improvement. By breaking your website's performance down into measurable goals, you will be able to assess the results of any changes quantitatively and determine which marketing campaigns are working best for you.

Here are five steps to creating an effective online marketing plan:

Define Your Marketing Goals. What are you trying to achieve with your website? Branding, market share, lead generation, direct sales, and establishing your company as a leader in its field are just a few of the possible objectives that your online strategy can include.
Determine How to Measure Your Success. Unless you can measure your website's achievements, you won't be able to determine how well you are doing or evaluate the impact of any changes. Page views, newsletter sign-ups, purchases, time on the website, and exit pages are just a few of the benchmarks you can measure from your website visitor statistics. You might also consider focus groups and questionnaires to get a wider view of your website's impact.
Create a Strategy to Achieve Your Goals. Generate a list of ideas that will help you achieve the goals you have defined in step one. Offering a free e-book for signing up for the newsletter, increasing your advertising placements, changing your navigation to make your site easier to use, and hiring a copywriter to create content that works for you are just a few ideas for achieving common website goals.
Determine the Resources You Need. Once you have an idea of the steps you want to take to achieve your business' online goals, you can create a marketing budget for the New Year. You'll no longer have to worry about whether you can afford to hire that SEO expert or buy another ten thousand banner impressions, because your site's needs will be properly prioritised and budgeted.
Track Results for Next Year. Keep a careful record of which strategies fail and which surpass your wildest expectations, so that you can adjust your online marketing plan accordingly at the beginning of the next year.

By following these five simple steps, you can create a quantitative plan for expanding your e-business, and ensure that your online marketing budget is wisely spent.

If you would like a no-obligation consultation regarding your online sales and marketing plan, please call 01242 570330.

10 Misconceptions That Can Derail Your E-Commerce Business: You Can't Sell to SMEs Online

Sure, the Internet might be a fine sales medium for marketing to individuals. But to sell to businesses - especially SMEs - you need to turn to traditional advertising channels like newspapers and trade magazines.right?

If your business is operating under this assumption, you are probably losing ground to your competition - whether you realise it or not.

Ninth E-commerce Misconceptions: You Can't Sell to SMEs Online

The same advantages that draw individuals to e-commerce - quick and convenient shopping, easy price comparisons, and 24-hour service - apply to businesses as well. Companies of all sizes are responding in kind, making the Internet their first stop for product information and purchasing. Obviously, if you want to position your company as an attractive discovery for SMEs who are actively seeking new partners, you're going to need to get online.

Driving Sales - When and Where Your Customer Wants to Buy
The Business to Business (B2B) segment is growing by leaps and bounds. Nearly every manufacturer offers its own website to facilitate online marketing. Ninety-eight percent of American and European B2B companies recently surveyed by eMarketer.com include websites as part of their marketing mix. More than half of those respondents said that the website was their single most powerful tool for driving sales.

Not surprisingly, online ad spending is following the trend. Experts predict that the U.S. B2B advertising industry will experience a growth of 29.6% in 2006 over the previous year, with ad sales reaching nearly $2 billion. That trend is only expected to increase, with online B2B ad spending anticipated to reach nearly $4 billion by 2010.

Meanwhile, growth in traditional print advertising for B2B enterprises has slowed to a trickle. Last year's already anaemic 4% growth has dropped to only 2% in 2006, and will continue to decline as online advertising methods become more popular.

Just Having a B2B Website Will Not Enough
The surge of interest in e-commerce solutions means this: if your business is going to stay competitive in the B2B world, you're going to need a strong - and smart! - Web presence. Throwing up a basic, bare-bones website will not be enough to satisfy your potential customers - not when your competitors are providing full-service solutions.

To break out and get ahead in the B2B market, you need to be highly focused on providing an excellent customer experience and driving a high Return on Investment. Continuously testing everything - from advertising placements to website copy - will help you refine your business to stay ahead of your competition.

If you would like a a no-obligation consultation, call 01242 570330 for a no-obligation consultation.

Web 2.0 - Just the Beginning

The Web 2.0 phenomenon is, at its heart, a way for companies to process changes to the Internet terrain after the initial bubble of e-commerce enthusiasm burst. The shake-up caused many promising Internet businesses to disappear from the landscape, and highlighted the methods that work online today.

Anticipating the Requirements for e-Commerce Success Tomorrow

Web 2.0 is shorthand for the core principles and values that are shared by the movers and shakers in the industry today. By keeping the lessons of Web 2.0 in mind, we can create websites that appeal to consumers' wants and desires today, tomorrow and maybe even a few years from now.

But as any businessperson knows, it is not enough to plan for today. Solid businesses have to keep an eye on the trends of the future as well. What is the Internet landscape going to look like in 5 years? In 10 years? The ability to predict the changes still to come could be the difference between a fly-by-night company and one with true lasting power.

So what are the major questions that Internet experts are expecting to be addressed in the next five to ten years? Some of the most important issues for businesses include:

The Internet will continue to gain in popularity. Most experts agree that the Internet will continue to grow in size and popularity over the next 10 to 15 years, while costs will steadily drop. More households will be connected, and more individuals will know how to use online services.
The Internet will become more secure. Online billing methods will continue to become safer to use, with advancements in authorisation and screening processes. Internet fraud will decline, and more people will feel comfortable shopping online.
English will remain dominant. English will remain the primary language for online businesses. While English will not displace other languages, more people will learn it as a second business language. Mandarin will continue to grow in popularity; however, as a greater percentage of China's vast population goes online.
The virtual workplace will expand. More people will be working from home, and productivity will increase. Online meetings and conferences will enable instantaneous transfer of information and boost collaboration.
The world will keep shrinking. All of the above factors mean that the world will get smaller. People will be able to compete on an even footing from locations across the globe. The best and the brightest minds will be able to work together, independent of global restrictions. On the other hand, businesses will need to be tougher to compete on a larger playing field.

Is your company ready for the challenges and opportunities of the Internet landscape of the future? If you would be interested in preparing a longer-range plan for your Internet presence, please get in touch with us at 01242 570330 for a no obligation consultation.