DAY 1: Analyzing The Viability Of Your Niche

In the next 3 weeks, there will be a guest post series about Search Engine Optimization and how you can improve and optimize any niche website. It’s been a huge topic from within my membership course and it’s something that can be easily outsourced. So let’s get started…

“Money isn’t the most important thing in life, but it’s reasonably close to oxygen on the ‘gotta have it’ scale.”

– Zig Ziglar -

Learn how to pick your own battles.

This may sound like a joke for many of you, but this is the primary reason why many sites or online businesses fail online.

Having a niche marketing strategy, that is focusing on a specific topic rather than a broad query allows you to perform better as you are competing with much less other sites on internet.

Your visitors will be much more targeted and thus will convert better.

Getting yourself into an overly competitive market is a recipe for disaster and a way to ensure that your site will never be found.

On the other hand, entering into an overly niche market may result in insufficient traffic volume to monetize your site or store and ensure your survival.

Remember, because you think you got a great idea doesn’t mean that other people share your feelings!

In the end, it’s all about money

Depending on the nature of your site, the way you plan to monetize your efforts may differ from site to site.

However, as a general rule, you’ll be monetizing your site through one or more of those following methods:

• Ecommerce– selling products, be it physical or digital.
• Affiliate Marketing– selling other people’s product and getting a commission for it.
• Advertising– selling ads space on your site.
• Services– selling your skills.

Regardless of the method you intend to use, you should have a number in mind as to how much money minimum you expect or you need to make out of your website for it to be worth your time.

I won’t elaborate much on it as this goes with all the information you should have gathered already in your business plan. You have one right? It would be foolish to start a business without one!

Ok, for the sake of illustration, I’m going to say that I want to start a new business online selling “nail polish”.

After my estimation, I also know that I’ll be making $1 profit for each bottle sold, and based on the marketing strategy I have established, I estimate that I’ll be able to sell 2 bottles to each customer in average.

Now, based on my expenses and personal needs, I want $2,000 of net profit per month to make this project worth.

Read more

Business Plans Are Good, Are They Really?

I have mentioned in the last couple of months that I’ve been part of the NEIS program and have been attending the small business management course provided by BEC. During the course I’ve put together a very detailed business plan for my business idea, which is also part of this website that I created. Here’s a video presentation of my business plan:

Also for anyone interested in writing a business plan here is a template provided by BEC: Business Plan Template

Tyrone Shum
Business Planner

NEIS – Part 2: What Do They Teach You In The Course?

I’ve just completed the NEIS course including going to the panel and getting my documentation approved. It was very exciting leading up to the day and also a very long anticipation since finishing the course material two weeks ago. Over the last two weeks it was time to finalise the business plan and to compile any other documentations required. By the time you go to the panel, you will have submitted:

• 2 bound copies of the business plan with attachments
• 2 copies of the executive summary

What Do They Teach In The Course?
Each BEC (Business Enterprise Centre) is different and they will have different trainers with different teaching styles. Essentially they have to follow the course outline provided from the government agencies. By the end of the course you will have compiled a business plan. Don’t fret though, because they provide you with a template and you just focus on getting the information into the business plan. The topics they cover over the few weeks to assist you with the business plan are:

• Management and Finance
• Marketing and Promotion
• Operations
• Insurances
• Presentation skills for the Panel

Management and Finance
This was a crucial component of the course and I found it quite easy to grasp as I seemed to find crunching numbers fun and naturally part of me (I loved Maths at school by the way). In saying this the most important part of finance I learnt was being able to work out how much it will cost to stay afloat in my new business and when would breakeven point occur? Knowing this gave a good indication for how realistic my expectations were and it is a goal for me to achieve.

Apart from learning how to calculate the breakeven point, there were other calculations required such as:

• Personal & business assets and liabilities
• Startup funds required
• Personal & business cost analysis
• Personal & business cashflow forecast
• Personal & business balance sheet forecast
• Business profit and loss forecast

All of these calculations required us to find exact numbers from our personal finances to come to an accurate forecast and helping us see what is viable for our new business. By the end of this section I found a lot of people struggled in the class and had to come to ask me because the trainer kept using me as an example. (I felt privileged to help and it did reinforce what I needed to know for myself)

The management section dealt with the entry and exit conditions of the business. We looked at how to ask minimise business risk through purchasing insurance and also making sure we have protection for our intellectual property. A lot of times businesses overlook these small little things, and when issues arise it may be too late. These could have been easily avoided if the appropriate business protections were in place from the start.

Marketing and Promotion
I enjoyed learning about this topic because it was the creative side of the business. It was the complete opposite of finance and was a fresh change. The trainer provided a lot of information and was very interactive with the class. She really impressed everyone when she remembered everyone’s name on the first day and could use our businesses as examples in all of the marketing topics she covered. The following topics covered in marketing were:

• Market research & market information
• The marketing mix (4 P’s)
• Product
• Price
• Promotion
• Place

It was very important to understand our market first and to do thorough research on what consumers wanted before approaching the market with your product or service. This allowed us to determine what our competitors were doing and if there was enough demand for our business to enter the market. I definitely found it applicable and learnt how to design a marketing strategy that would cater for my business.

Operations
There are some things in business that you just have to do, and it’s not dollar productive but important in keeping your business operations running. It’s the behind the scenes work, such as book keeping, tax, insurances, payroll, managing and analysing your finances and so forth. All of these components are essential in keeping the business running and this was the final topic in the course that we had to complete for the business plan. I found it to be quite bland but important and I’ve already decided to outsource the paperwork to a book keeper to allow me to spend more time on marketing and promoting the business.

Insurances
This was a very brief one hour talk from an Insurance Broker who offered advice on what necessary insurances were needed to run each and every one of our business. Each business had different needs and we were recommended to speak to seek Insurance Brokers to save time in finding the appropriate insurance for our business. For my business I only needed Public Liability Insurance which is compulsory before starting my business with NEIS. When I start to hire staff, I will add Worker’s Compensation Insurance and keep abreast of what protection I may need for this business later on.

Presentation skills for the Panel
In the third week of the course they brought in a professional speaker named Melanie Wass from Natural Consulting. She explained to us previously from other panel interviews most candidates did not perform well and they lacked strong presentation skills. Therefore they wanted us to succeed and hired Melanie to give us some basic pointers on how to sell our business to the panel and get approved to be on the NEIS program. Some of the questions we had to ask ourselves were:

• Who are you?
• What’s your business?
• What do you really do for people? (think benefit, think big)
• Who do you do it for? (who’s your main target market?)
• What’s your Tagline?
• Your 30 second pitch?

After answering those questions and writing them down, we were asked to memorise them and make sure we were prepared to present them to panel, as that’s what they will ask us. Additionally when Melanie told us that some people have turned up to the panel in T-shirt and shorts, I found it quite amusing. She emphasised to us the importance of presenting ourselves in business attire and projecting our voice clearly. I felt quite comfortable with everything she said and just waited until the day of the panel presentation.

Feedback And Comments
So after going through this comprehensive course I feel a lot more confident in starting my new business and will be keen to share more of my experiences with other. If you have any further questions about the course, please add your comments below.

Also, BEC have the following alliance partners supporting the NEIS programme that can assist you with the business and may have special packages for anyone part of the NEIS program:

Tyrone Shum
NEIS Participant

8 Ways To Improve Your Chances Of Success In 2009

If you’re looking to achieve greater results this year, then it’s a great time to look at the state of your business right now. Start reassessing your goals and look at how to improve your business practices. Make sure you read Plan Or Not To Plan? to understand the importance of planning for your Internet business. Here are 8 ways to increase the success of your business for 2009:

1. Write (or revise) Your Business Plan
   You may already have a business plan in place, but with the uncertain economy it’s a good idea to revisit your goals and objectives for the next six months, the next year, the next five years. Make your business plan a living document and update it at least quarterly, or even better, every month. It will help you stay on track and more easily adapt to changes in customer demand. Be sure to read Business Plans Are Good, Are They Really? on how I created and updated my business plan for 2009.
2. Focus On A Niche
   Many people feel that being more general about what they offer makes them more marketable. Often the opposite is true. Most people want to work with a specialist, and one of the best ways to stand out in a crowded market is to be very specific about what you do and who you do it for.
3. Increase Your Marketing Relationships
   At core marketing means building relationships, being able to speak clearly about the benefits of your offerings, and having conversations with people who might need your products or services. Search the Internet for tips, use Pinpoint to find expert help, and talk to other professionals about the marketing efforts that work best for them.
   
4. Become An Expert In Your Industry
   You know you are an expert, but if you write, speak, and network like one people will automatically associate you with your niche. You’ll make a much greater impression as the speaker at an event than simply shaking hands and handing out business cards. And you can further build expert status by writing articles for publication, having your own newsletter, or starting a blog.
   
5. Establish and Follow Up With Business Contacts
   You’ve likely collected numerous business cards, but what have you really done with them? Following up is critical to business success. A few tips to keep your company in the front of people’s minds:
   • Send individual e-mails recalling specifics of your conversation with an invitation to visit your Web site.
   • Invite contacts to periodic open houses to see what you do firsthand.
   • Distribute a newsletter or blog that builds your reputation as an expert.
   • Promote special offers to pique contact interest in what you offer.
6. Stay Competitive And Offer Incentives To Your Customers
   Everyone is looking for a deal these days. Whether it’s reducing your prices, offering something free as incentive on your Web site, or providing additional services to customers when they contact you, doing something above just selling your product or service can give you an edge on your competitors.
7. Add Value By Providing Great Information
   Build customer trust by providing clear, succinct information about your products and services, with emphasis on the benefits to customers and your expertise in meeting their needs. Providing helpful tips on your Web site where appropriate establishes your credibility and helps customers see how what you do can provide value to them.
8. Sell Your Benefits And Results
   Most people don’t care how you help them reach their goals, as long as you do it with integrity, efficiency, and within their budget. Instead of talking about how you work, be clear about your expertise and the changes people can expect from working with you. Get into the habit of asking clients for testimonials and referrals and consider writing (or hiring someone to write) case studies on successful engagements you’ve had. The most effective promotion comes from satisfied customers.

Tyrone Shum
Success Chaser