Bare Feet Blog » small business

We Have a New Site Design

Roxanne Darling — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 10:35:19 +0000

Time to stir up the water and get a new blog design. Our previous design was very minimalist. We’ve decided too minimalist. We want you to be able to see the range of topics we care about, the various projects we are managing, and have room for things like Twitter and Comments too! Please tell us what you think. We splurged and bought this theme from a top WordPress designer, Brian Gardner. (Internet oddball perhaps, but I like paying for quality services.)

One of the coolest things about blog software is how the design elements and the content are separated, kind of like how editorial and advertising once used to be. :-) In theory, it’s possible to swap out a new “theme” on the WordPress blog, and the database of posts and comments simply gets wrapped in a new look.

In reality of course, it’s not that easy because inevitably we want to tweak a little here, change a color there, add a widget, hide a widget, and make all new graphics too! It’s so emblematic of the state of the web these days. On the one hand the glass is half-full: so many things are free and creativity abounds. OTOH, the glass is half-empty: it takes hours and hours to find stuff and make it work the way we want it to, a full spectrum of brain matter is useful when managing the wide and deep terrain that covers coding, design, and ultimately writing a coherent message!

I interviewed a marketing exec from IBM back in 2002. He said they had already survived 11 iterations of their web site over the past 6-7 years! Meanwhile, many small businesses are content to have one iteration every 10 or 11 years! (OK – so maybe I exagerrate a little.) Here’s a list of things to think about to see if it is time to redo your website.

We want some of our clients to update their sites; “unfortunately,” we built them with the most modern tools available at the time, so the sites are surviving, if not thriving. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it makes sense. But then there is the question: what opportunities are being missed that can only be gained with new technology?

One last thought. I used “we” a lot in this post. Really, it is Shane who gets the big kudos as he researched the WP themes, did all the extra programming, and even added some upgrades to the templates that he is sending back to Brian, the original developer. Mahalo nui Shane. You are no ka oi!

Share/Bookmark

Getting Clients to Pay On Time

Roxanne Darling — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 22:38:55 +0000

We are a small business. We invoice once a month, for services performed in the previous month. Our payment terms are “due on receipt.” Some clients pay accordingly. Others have tended to lump us into the “net-30” category based (my ass-u-mption) on the terms they receive from other vendors. A few others appear to have a “squeaky wheel” folder, aka don’t pay until someone is bugging them repeatedly to pay.

Years ago I contemplated putting up a web site called “theydontpay.com” that would serve as a sort of small business Dun & Bradstreet service. Small business owners could post their experiences of companies with a bad record of not paying, so other small companies could check out a potential client in advance. Back in those days, we had a few big names you would think would be an asset to the client list. But in reality, they had a high P.I.T.A. score often based on refusal to pay normal invoices. The concept was very similar to another social media site I recently discovered, RottenNeighbor.com. (I could have some fun there!)

Since I was too busy to do that, and am wary in general of putting out stink eye for all the world to see (I prefer Aloha), I decided instead to offer positive incentives. I’ve been having fun, but have to report that it has only made the good clients better and not the “bad” clients better. The first month was a 10% discount to the first payment received. We accept and encourage electronic payments so the first payment was delivered in less than 20 minutes by a nonprofit client, NAWBO. I reported that in my next monthly mailing.

The next time I offered a free $10 iTunes Gift Card to anyone who left a comment on our blog. This was to also help our clients get more comfortable leaving blog comments and hey, do any of you not love getting more blog comments?

Guess what? Only one person played. Meredith of HereComesTheGuide.com was stoked, and I extended it some because she actually left two comments! I sent her a 25 gift card that also donates 10% to AIDS relief in Africa. (I hope that link survives outside of my browser cookie settings…)

This month, I am offering a more generic BareFeetShop/Amazon.com $10 gift certificate and link love to all those who tell me about a blog they read and why. (And I even encouraged them to get staff involved.) Early congrats to Andy at Packet Analytics who replied in less than 15 minutes! I’ll compile the results here in a few weeks.

Wish me luck. I’d sure like to find out what the tipping point is to get old invoices paid. (You know who you are, though I wonder if you read our blog. Please contact me privately to tell me about your sweet spots.) I am all ears to the rest of you who have fun ways to help clients pay on time and feel so good about it they’ll want to do it over and over again.

Share/Bookmark

SmallBiz America Relaunched

Roxanne Darling — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 20:14:38 +0000

We love it when clients come to us thirsty for making the web work for them. David Wolf clearly has an appetite that puts him way out in front! A successful entrepreneur across industries as diverse as music and bagels, he came to us to help him develop a new business strategy. The result is SmallbizAmerica.com.

Phase One includes a full blog software-based site with separate RSS feeds for David’s podcast, The Smallbiz Brain as well as for his text blog. He manages all of his content from a web-based admin. (Duh, need I say that? All of the sites we have built since 2000 have had this feature.) Throughout the course of development we all did a lot of research on numerous platforms, recording tools, and hosting options enabling David to really zero in on just what he wanted to do and how he could do that most efficiently. (Click on the thumbnail graphic to follow through on the numbered items.)

Blog software provides so many benefits! Newest articles are always on top, featured on the home page. Visitors can leave comments and be part of the discussion. Articles can be filed in multiple categories. Search engines love blogs.
David can select Featured Articles from his content to be highlighted on the home page, with a simple checkbox feature in his admin. They show up regardless of the date originally posted. He can strategize whom to put there, based on various business factors.
We have an embedded audio player for first time visitors to get a quick intro via audio while they are perusing the many possibilities on the home page.
The Tool Bar gives quick links to david’s “evergreen content” (the about us stuff that doesn’ change often) as well as the site wide search engine, and the user tools for getting on the email list or subscribing to David’s site content. The tool bar is on every page of the site.
There is a graphic link to David’s Live365 internet radio station providing a 24/7 stream of audio content, some of which is also broadcast on select AM radio stations across the US.

David can add new Categories and external links (Blogroll) easily from the site admin. Linking to others is good netiquette and helps your visitors find even more useful information.
Phase Two will be launching shortly, as he brings on additional experts (“RSP’s”) who will have their own radio show podcast channel and mini-site within Smallbiz America. Plus many more features that will make his site the place to hang out for tips on running a successful small business. Please check it out and leave David a comment that you were there!

Share/Bookmark

Still Doubt Blogging? IBM is in the Game

Roxanne Darling — Fri, 15 Jul 2005 16:54:42 +0000

My digital divide alert sounds went off today once again. Half the country does not know what a blog is, most don’t know how to use one when they do come across one, yet business giant IBM has announced it is developing its own blogging tool.

What’s a small business owner to do?

Keep focused on your business and what IS working for you. That is always good advice.
Give yourself a gold start – you are reading the Bare Feet Blog!
Remember that the internet is not going anywhere. You don’t have to be the first adopter. But if you are, there is some good press to be had and some possible “first mover” advantages.
Set aside an hour or two a week to read up on technology. You can find information in the mainstream press, and you can start googling things like “blog home repair” – if you are intersted in home repair for example – and go from there.
Attend meetings and seminars (many of which are free) to learn more about blogging, podcasting, and how to use the internet for your business.
Hire someone to give in-house seminars to you and your staff on technology and how to use it more efficiently.