When you inherit a family business, you step into a new role. And, as in any new role, establishing your way of doing things can be challenging.

In fact, changing things in a family business can be particularly difficult. If you have been working in the business for many years, you may be set in your ways. Parents, siblings and other relations who work, or have worked in the business, will have their opinions about the best way of doing things, and there can be a lot of emotion tied up in the business – it can be difficult for older family members to let go, even if they’ve technically passed the business on to you.

But that doesn’t mean you should continue on with the status quo. If you want your business to grow, you need to take a hard look at the way you work and make changes – even if others don’t agree.

Here are the top five ways to kick-start your growth.

Keep your customers coming back

Increasing your customer retention rate can be a low-cost, low-impact way to grow your business. Keeping existing customers around is easier than attracting new ones, so it’s worth thinking about ways to increase retention.

The ‘how’ will be different for every business. You’ll need to investigate why customers are leaving your service or failing to buy your product again, and work on improving those factors. Does your customer service need work? Do you need to contact your customers more often to make sure they remember you? Is it something simple, like shipping cost or packaging, letting you down? Small changes could make a big difference.

Finding new leads

Finding new potential customers is the bread and butter of business. If you’re neglecting this area, your growth is likely to be stagnant.

There are many ways to connect with potential customers and find new leads. Advertising, whether online or in print, is the most obvious and traditional – but not necessarily the most effective. You can also use direct marketing to target people likely to be interested in your business, use social media to connect on an individual level, and work on improving SEO for your website so potential customers can actually find your business.

Conversion is key

Once you’ve increased the number of leads, you can work on your conversion rate. If you’re not converting leads to sales, you’re wasting the money and time you spend on marketing.

You can boost your conversion rate by offering promotional prices or deals for new customers, adding customer reviews and testimonials to prove your product’s worth, or improving your website to make it easier for customers to purchase your product.

Boost your transactions

Increasing transactions is a good goal – more transactions mean more money, after all. But it’s also important to work on increasing the value of each transaction. Higher value transactions bring your business more profit, with the same – or a similar – amount of effort on your part.

If you’re selling online, you can try to increase transaction value by offering free shipping on sales over a certain point, bundling product offerings so customers purchase more items, and using targeted suggestions based on customers’ browsing history. In physical stores, you can work on staff sales training, use tactics like suggesting related product add-ons, or think about increasing your prices.

Reduce your costs

All businesses have overheads, and every sale has a cost involved. Some of these costs are set, while others may be more flexible. Reducing these costs can be a relatively simple way to up your profits.

Think about your larger, monthly costs – like rent and staffing – and the less obvious expenses that apply to each sale – like packaging and shipping. Whether you find ways to reduce the larger costs and save a big chunk of cash, or reduce the smaller costs and save slowly over time, it could make a significant difference to your profit margins.

Looking for ways to grow your family business? Book a complimentary meeting to talk to a qualified business advisor at GECA for advice and support.

The post How to make your family business flourish appeared first on GECA Chartered Accountants.

Domain names play a key role in how visitors to your website identify your business. This is precisely why you should spend sufficient time finding the domain name that best suits your brand. But finding a suitable name for your website is not always as simple as it looks: the name you want is already taken, the catchy four-letter domain is too costly, or you may just lack inspiration. Let’s look at how you can mount a successful search for the ideal domain.

Buying existing domain names

If you know the exact domain name you want, but someone else already owns it, you should begin by visiting their site to see what’s there. There is a chance that the current owner runs a similar business to yours and is fully utilising the domain; in this case, there is little chance of them selling it to you.

However, there are also many people who invest in domain names as others do in stocks and shares. They buy good names and either leave them idle or set up a generic landing page, often with a link for those interested in buying the name. In this case, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to get your ideal name, though you may have to pay a premium price for it.

A third possibility is that the current owner hasn’t updated the site for a long time. They may have lost interest or their business may have closed, for example, but the site is still online. It’s definitely worth contacting the owner of a lapsed site to see if they will sell the name. You can find their details by checking the WHOIS information for the domain name: every domain must have a contact name and email address to retain registration.

It is important to understand that shorter names which can be easily pronounced are worth a lot more than long ones. Virtually all common English words have already been registered and demand extortionate prices as well, so you’ll need to be inventive – or willing to spend!

Generator tools

If your ideal domain name is unavailable or the price is too much for your budget, you can try looking for variations on the same name. This can be a long, arduous task, requiring hours of sitting in front of your computer, trying to come up with new ideas based on your business, then searching for them to see if they’re available. Thankfully, there’s a quicker alternative!

Online domain name generators, such as NameBoy or BustAName, create a large number of variants based around your chosen keywords, and they typically check availability as well. The advantages of using these tools are many:

• They help you find good names for your brand by using prefixes, suffixes and other keyword options
• They check domain name availability quickly, for all extensions
• They help you find ideas for names that you may not have considered

Remember, once you choose a domain name for your brand, it’s very difficult to move to a new one, so choose carefully. You should also be aware of wandering too far from your original idea: generators create so many different names that it’s easy to get distracted!

Exact match domains and slogans

The search engines used to give a significant ranking bonus to “exact match domains”. If your domain name matched your site’s keywords, the site ranked higher in search listings for those keywords. In other words, a site called “MakeMoneyOnline” (with any extension) which was built around the key phrase “make money online” ranked a lot better than a similar site with a different name. Recent changes have negated this ranking bonus.

If your business has a short tagline, you can also consider a longer domain name that still works well with your brand. Great examples are Nike’s “Just Do It” and Apple’s “Think Different”, both of which have been used as domain names to send more visitors to their main sites.

Whether you’re lucky enough to get the ideal domain name for your business or have to settle for a snappy alternative, always remember that your web address is an integral part of your business and brand. Treat it as an important investment in your future success.

If you’re ready to start thinking about using social media for your business, contact Giles Ellis – At GECA we’re family business accounting experts.

The post How to find a domain name for your business appeared first on GECA Chartered Accountants.

Showcasing a business online is an increasingly effective tool for attracting new customers. Blogging is a great way to start to communicate with your target audience.

Blogs are highly effective tools for sharing your expertise with others, increasing web traffic and brand awareness, and for attracting and interacting with new customers. WordPress and Blogger are free web hosting platforms that make blogging available to businesses of all sizes.

What is a blog?

It’s best to think of a blog like an online journal – a web page made up of chronological posts published at regular intervals. Unlike personal journals, blogs have a comments box accompanying each post. This element provides feedback and creates a direct link with readers, sometimes generating a hotbed of discussion that drives repeat traffic.

Blogs first drew widespread attention in 1999, around the same time web-hosting tools became commonly available. Since then blogging has snowballed, with The Nielsen Company estimating that there are now more than 170 million blogs online worldwide.

The benefits of business blogging

Blogging is a low-cost, easy way to establish a presence on the Internet, start communicating with existing customers and find potential new customers.

A blog can be a powerful channel of communication to share business-related knowledge with a large audience. They’re generally shorter than articles making them easy to read, topical and sometimes lighthearted.

You can answer Frequently Asked Questions on your blog. It’s both useful for your readers and saves you having to answer questions by email.

You can also share business news, advise people when your website has been updated with new information, promote sales or discounts, encourage people to sign up for newsletters, provide sneak previews of what’s coming up, or even run contests to generate some interest.

How to start blogging

To start blogging, you’ll need a computer, an Internet connection, and a webhost to host your blog. You can either add a blog to your website or cut your teeth using one of the free blog options like Blogger or WordPress.

It won’t take you long to set up an account, choose a blog name and start blogging. Define your target audience – people who’ll read your blog and why. This’ll help you choose an appropriate name and description for your blog site.

Before you invite everyone to comment on your first blog post, take some time out to plan your blogs. How often are you going to post on your blog? One of the keys to successful blogging is consistency. What are you going to blog about? Brainstorm ideas ahead of time and plan your blogs in advance each week.

Basic rules of blogging

There are a few basic rules of blogging that’ll get you up to speed:

• Put time aside to blog regularly. The most successful blogs put out new content at least a few times a week and stick to a regular schedule.
• Blogs are part of the social media mix. They’re about online conversations not promoting your product. You want your content to be personal and engaging.
• People expect blogs to be open, honest, and personal.
• Cross-promote your content over various social media channels. If you’ve just posted a new blog entry, tweet about it on Twitter and link to your Facebook page.
• Keep your writing short and make it easy to scan. Most people will scan your posts before they decide whether they will read them or not. This means writing short sentences, using subheadings and avoiding long blocks of text. You should also make use of images and bullet points, and highlight keywords.

With these handy tips, you’ll be able to begin blogging with the aim of improving your business.

If you’d like to know more, contact us today at GECA.

The post How blogging can improve your business appeared first on GECA Chartered Accountants.

Even well-run, successful businesses get the odd negative review. But if you’re a small business, negative online reviews can have an outsized impact.

Online review sites are increasingly important drivers of new leads and customer inquiries, so even if feedback is inaccurate, unfair, or a customer overreacting to a small issue, it can be enough to damage your reputation.

Fortunately, you can lessen the impact of a negative review by responding to it well. Here are five steps to resolve a bad review – without making yourself look worse.

1: Stay calm

We have all seen those cases in the media where a business owner responds to customer complaints with aggression and rudeness – it’s not a good look. Even if a nasty review makes you angry, waiting until you feel calmer will help you respond professionally. Try to empathise with the customer and understand where they’re coming from, even if you think they’re in the wrong.

2: Respond, remove, or ignore?

If the review is needlessly aggressive, full of personal attacks or swear words, or completely irrational, it may not be worth responding to it at all. Some review sites will remove such reviews for breaking site rules and guidelines, so get in touch and see if this is an option.

3: Fact finding

Make sure you know exactly what happened before you respond. That means reading the review thoroughly, talking to the staff members involved, and going through any relevant receipts, emails, or security camera footage.

4: Reply in private

Your first response should be private, if possible. Many review sites will let you private message other members if you have an account with them. If you can’t do this, comment on the post and politely request that they get in touch so you can resolve their issue.

When you talk to or email the customer, ask them to clarify what happened, apologise profusely, explain what went wrong on your end, and ask what you can do to help. Depending on what happened, you may want to offer them a refund, a voucher, an apology from the staff member involved, or simply explain that you have updated your policy and that it won’t happen again.

5: Respond in public

It’s a good idea to follow up your private response with a public comment. Outline what happened, apologise again, and briefly explain what you have done to resolve the issue. Doing this shows that your business cares about its customers and takes complaints seriously.

Live and learn

Sometimes, there’s nothing you can do to resolve the issue or get the review removed. In those cases, the only thing you can really do is learn from your mistake by updating procedures or improving staff training, and then move on. Eventually, as you continue to provide great customer service, the negative review will be overshadowed by positive ones.

Need help to unlock your business potential and grow your family business. Call Giles Ellis now from GECA  on 0800 758 766  to increase profits, improve cashflow and grow your wealth.

The post How to deal with a negative review online appeared first on GECA Chartered Accountants.

Blogs are highly effective tools for sharing your expertise with others, increasing web traffic and brand awareness, and for attracting and interacting with new customers. WordPress and Blogger are free web hosting platforms that make blogging available to businesses of all sizes.

What is a blog?

It’s best to think of a blog like an online journal – a web page made up of chronological posts published at regular intervals. Unlike personal journals, blogs have a comments box accompanying each post. This element provides feedback and creates a direct link with readers, sometimes generating a hotbed of discussion that drives repeat traffic.

Blogs first drew widespread attention in 1999, around the same time web-hosting tools became commonly available. Since then blogging has snowballed, with The Nielsen Company estimating that there are now more than 170 million blogs online worldwide.

The benefits of business blogging

Blogging is a low-cost, easy way to establish a presence on the Internet, start communicating with existing customers and find potential new customers.

A blog can be a powerful channel of communication to share business-related knowledge with a large audience. They’re generally shorter than articles making them easy to read, topical and sometimes lighthearted.

You can answer Frequently Asked Questions on your blog. It’s both useful for your readers and saves you having to answer questions by email.

You can also share business news, advise people when your website has been updated with new information, promote sales or discounts, encourage people to sign up for newsletters, provide sneak previews of what’s coming up, or even run contests to generate some interest.

How to start blogging

To start blogging, you’ll need a computer, an Internet connection, and a webhost to host your blog. You can either add a blog to your website or cut your teeth using one of the free blog options like Blogger or WordPress.

It won’t take you long to set up an account, choose a blog name and start blogging. Define your target audience – people who’ll read your blog and why. This’ll help you choose an appropriate name and description for your blog site.

Before you invite everyone to comment on your first blog post, take some time out to plan your blogs. How often are you going to post on your blog? One of the keys to successful blogging is consistency. What are you going to blog about? Brainstorm ideas ahead of time and plan your blogs in advance each week.

Basic rules of blogging

There are a few basic rules of blogging that’ll get you up to speed:

• Put time aside to blog regularly. The most successful blogs put out new content at least a few times a week and stick to a regular schedule.
• Blogs are part of the social media mix. They’re about online conversations not promoting your product. You want your content to be personal and engaging.
• People expect blogs to be open, honest, and personal.
• Cross-promote your content over various social media channels. If you’ve just posted a new blog entry, tweet about it on Twitter and link to your Facebook page.
• Keep your writing short and make it easy to scan. Most people will scan your posts before they decide whether they will read them or not. This means writing short sentences, using subheadings and avoiding long blocks of text. You should also make use of images and bullet points, and highlight key words.

With these handy tips you’ll be able to begin blogging with the aim of improving your business.

The post Using blogs to improve your business appeared first on GECA Chartered Accountants.

When it comes to writing for blogs, not all content is created equal. Many articles are rushed, poorly written, and lack the research to back them up, all of which can drive away traffic and leave visitors with a negative first impression.

The good news is that with the right know-how and a bit of effort, virtually anyone can dramatically improve their writing skills. Below are some of the most important tips and techniques for honing your writing in order to create high-quality, search engine optimised content.

Create an Outline

Many writers think of outlines as something reserved for much longer projects, but even a short article can benefit greatly from a bit of planning beforehand. An outline allows you to lay out the main points of your article to ensure that the message isn’t being lost or obscured. It can also drastically improve the flow of your writing, since using an outline means you are less likely to randomly switch topics or repeat information.

Do Your Research

All of your content writing efforts will be for naught if you aren’t willing to spend some time researching your topics. Providing accurate, fact-checked information shows readers that you are a voice of authority and that your content can be trusted. There are millions of blogs looking for traffic, and if your site gains a reputation for rushed, uninformed articles, that traffic will go elsewhere.

Look at Other Successful Writers

One way to get a crash course in content writing skills is to observe the skills of others that have proven themselves successful. Find articles that hooked you and that you enjoyed reading, then take the time to dissect them. How did the author introduce their main ideas? How did they structure their article and present information? By asking these questions while you read, you will begin to absorb the elements of style that contribute to quality writing.

Provide Something Unique

Ideally, your articles should provide something unique to lure in readers and keep their attention. Write about things that genuinely interest you and things that others in your chosen niche would enjoy reading about. Put effort into creating a compelling title and an introduction that hooks viewers right away. Your first few lines should be short, to the point, and never misleading. Try to start off with an unpopular or interesting opinion, an important question, or a profound statement, and then spend the rest of your article delving into it.

Always Edit and Proofread

No matter how short the piece is or how close you are to a deadline, never skip out on editing. Most word processing programs provide basic spelling and grammar checks, but it’s still quite possible for things to slip through the cracks. An article full of mistakes reflects poorly on you, and enough mistakes over time could permanently tarnish your reputation. Editing allows you to check for any potential errors, tighten up any overly-wordy sentences, and streamline your message. Never underestimate how much impact the editing process can have on your skills as a writer.

Pay Attention to Formatting

It may seem like a minor detail, but poor formatting can cripple an article that would be fine otherwise. Many blogs feature articles that are one long, unbroken wall of text. If your content is a chore to read, very few people will be willing to stick around. Instead, try to keep your paragraphs to an average of 5 or 6 lines each, with clear breaks between them. Also pay attention to other formatting details, such as proper capitalisation and use of bold, italics, or underlining.

Becoming a better writer isn’t something that happens overnight. It requires time, effort, and the willingness to do what it takes to learn and improve. However, by following the advice above, even beginners can speed up the process and take the initiative in their quest to become better writers.

Looking for ways to grow your family business? Talk to a qualified business advisor at GECA for advice and support.

The post 6 Proven Ways to Improve Your Content Writing appeared first on GECA Chartered Accountants.