At the age of 3, Aiden was developmentally behind by 18 months. He hadn’t yet been able to crawl, couldn’t chew food, never focused on the television for more than 15 seconds, he couldn’t tell us what was causing the challenges. Specialists ranged from speech therapists, physiotherapists, eye specialists and a typical week included 3 specialist appointments each and every week for two years. Financial challenges aside, the stress and strain on our family was unbelievable and both Nat and I suffered a great deal of stress and tension that was extremely challenging to deal with. We both felt lost and afraid to share our fears with the ones around us who loved us and continued to support us through all of this.

As Aiden was nearing the age of 4, our team of specialists from La Ressource in Hull, Quebec (a phenomenal team of specialists each with their own respective areas of expertise) started to eliminate some potential causes for the challenges – he had no muscular issues, his eyesight posed no significant challenges (despite a birth defect called collaboma in both eyes) and his developmental delays weren’t being driven by any auditory disability.  At this point the specialists urged us to try a small dose of ADHD medication. This entwined my wife and I into a ball of emotional doubt, because like so many others we were uneducated and overreacted to the stigma that the media has put on the use of this medication. Our parents also held their own differing degrees of doubt, as they also struggled to cope with the unknown possibilities of the diagnosis.

Despite our own personal challenges with the recommendation, Nat and I decided to give medication a try. The day that we gave Aiden his first pill I will *never* forget. It was the first day he could talk to me for more than 1 minute without changing the topic 3 times. Although prior he had never watched television for more than 15 seconds, this day he watched an entire 15 minutes, uninterrupted! While that sounds like a “normal” feat for most parents, this was unbelievable to us.

Fast forward 1 year and he had reduced his learning gap from being 18 months behind developmentally, down to only 6 months behind – all because he was finally able to maintain focus which increased his capability of absorbing information and processing it as well… it provided him with the possibility to learn; a possibility he did not have prior.

Today he still has challenges, but, without this diagnosis and us opening our minds, he wouldn’t be where he is today. Our biases, personal opinions and assumptions that we know everything could have literally cost our son the ability to flourish, the chance to excel and the opportunity to enjoy life to the fullest.

My son nearly suffered the consequences of my own narrow-minded and ill-informed opinions; the cost of my inaction would have been immeasurable. I will never forget this day. It has changed who I am and what I believe in. Don’t close your mind, because if you do, you may irrevocably change the course of your or someone you love’s life.

Thank you for taking the time to read my experience. I hope it helps you keep your mind opened and to consider all possibilities, despite any biases you may have.

–

Brent Mondoux
CEO, N-VisionIT Interactive
brent@betterwebsites.ca

Ottawa website development

Enclosed is a letter that our company sent to our customers and partners, but I’d also wish to thank all of my loyal blog readers as I sincerely appreciate your input, feedback and emails on a daily basis.

Dear Customer,

Every time we work on your website, mobile application or social media, we’re thinking about the big picture: How can we help you help others?

Because of N-VisionIT’s philosophy and because of the support of clients like you, our co-founder and CEO Brent Mondoux has just received the Forty Under 40 award from the Ottawa Business Journal and the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce. The award, which received 150 nominations this year, recognizes top entrepreneurs who give back to the community.

“I attribute this win to our team’s success,” says Brent, who co-founded N-VisionIT with Reid Ivens in 1999. Since then, our business has gone on to build websites, mobile applications and social media marketing campaigns for Fortune 500 companies including the likes of Sara Lee and Sony as well as both the Canadian and the U.S. government.

Just four years after we opened, N-VisionIT was named one of Profit Magazine’s Hot 50 Companies. Why? Because, as you know, N-VisionIT cares about helping you connect with and take care of your customers.

“We’re not here just to make clients more money. We’re making clients products and services that will help people, and this award is proof of that,” says Brent, who was named one of Ottawa’s Forty Under 40 because of his expertise in web development and social media, his achievements with N-VisionIT and real estate firm Amplified Investments, and his philanthropic efforts.

Thanks to a client list that includes you, we’re able to donate website creation and other resources to help charities and non-profit organizations help the less fortunate. Since we created N-VisionIT Gives Back, we’ve built websites that have helped raise money for rare diseases and donations for the homeless.

Please join us in congratulating Brent in his commitment to making the world a better place, and in his contribution to businesses like yours which are striving to do the same.

Sincerely,
The team at N-VisionIT Interactive

–

Brent Mondoux
CEO, N-VisionIT Interactive
brent@betterwebsites.ca

Ottawa web design

Published in February 2013 Ottawa Chamber of Commerce newsletter

Why do people go to networking events? Because it works! We meet new acquaintances, obtain new leads and in time these new connections transform into lucrative opportunities. As these new connections introduce us to others, the cycle repeats itself and our networking success begins to compound.

There’s no mystery that business networking still remains one of the most valuable methods of building and strengthening our connections; however, still today, many people have yet to discover the true power of networking on social media channels.

Social networking mirrors the same activities as business networking with one exception: face-to-face communication comes later. While business networking is still, and will always remain, a vital method of business development, there are many benefits to social networking that can bring your business development activities to the next level.

One of the most successful social networks for business-to-business networking activities is LinkedIn. Here’s why:

Unlimited connections

When performing traditional networking, your time is limited to the duration of the event and there are only so many people you can meet. LinkedIn eliminates time restrictions, giving you the freedom to research, target, and connect with the connections that you want to make. By controlling the quality and quantity of connections you are able to make better use of your time and target the best opportunities.

Better targeted focus

At networking events it’s challenging to target the best leads. LinkedIn enables you to learn the goals, accomplishments and interests of a potential connection prior to initiating conversation. We all know people do business with who they like and trust, so knowing a little bit about them prior to an initial conversation creates an advantageous position.

Easier referrals

LinkedIn makes it easy to ask for targeted referrals. Not only does it show you who in your network is connected with the lead you’re targeting, but it only takes is a simple message to initiate the process. At networking events, gaining targeted referrals is nearly impossible due to time and availability constraints.

Don’t eliminate your traditional business networking activity. Amplify your success by leveraging LinkedIn and other social media channels; believe me, your competitors are. Don’t leave opportunities on the table, it’s only you who will pay the price.

Join the FREE webinar on ”Growing Your Business with LinkedIn”. Thursday, March 7th 2013

Click Here to Register.
Brent Mondoux is the CEO of N-VisionIT Interactive.
Filed under: Uncategorized ]]> http://ottawawebsites.wordpress.com/2013/02/13/social-networking-on-linkedin-for-business-success/feed/ 0 ottawawebsitedesign Social networking on LinkedIn for business success http://ottawawebsites.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/identify-weaknesses-in-your-website-and-how-to-fix-them/ http://ottawawebsites.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/identify-weaknesses-in-your-website-and-how-to-fix-them/#comments Thu, 17 Jan 2013 14:23:37 +0000 Brent Mondoux (@betterwebsites) http://ottawawebsites.wordpress.com/?p=261 Continue reading →]]> I’d like to talk about a topic that most people avoid.  It’s a taboo topic because most business owners are typically positive, upbeat individuals who tend to avoid the negative.  Heaven forbid that any pessimism ever shadow the company!  But… is it pessimism to admit one’s weaknesses?  Absolutely not!  So long as once the weaknesses are identified, the beholder of said information approaches these weaknesses with positivity and puts into place a plan to eliminate them.

So then, when talking about websites, how do we find our weaknesses and more importantly what do we do to fix them?

It’s actually easier than you think.  Here’s five suggestions to get you started:

• SWOT those flies!

If you haven’t done a SWOT analysis to date, or if you are like I was a few years ago when one of my mentors urged me to perform this exercise, stop what you’re doing now and get started!  A SWOT analysis is one of the most vital exercises business owners can perform in order to gain a better understanding of their strengths, weaknesses and identifying the opportunities available while recognizing the threats that may hinder success.  If you haven’t carved a sustainable niche in your line of business, it’s vital that you start here.  Try contacting your local centre for research and innovation to see if they offer a mentoring program.  If you’re in Ottawa, then consider OCRI’s iProft small business mentoring program, they did wonders for us during one of our re-branding phases and I strongly recommend them to everyone.

•  Location.  Location.  Location.

Start with search.  Visitors to Google perform 2 billion searches every day and visitors to Bing and Yahoo! add another billion to the mix!  If your potential customers can’t find your products or services when searching, you’ve identified your first weakness.  You need to be in the top results, optimally the first 3 for any keywords that are targeted to your business.  If you’re just getting started out, pay for your results.  But be careful, don’t buy keywords that are too generic (if your customers are in a small geographical area, make sure your ads are limited to them).

• Interview yourself!

Pretend you’ve sold your business and moved to another city, but now you need the very same products and services that you once sold yourself!  Now remember… your business doesn’t exist.  Go to your website, would you hire yourself?  Don’t let your competitors steal your customers!

•  Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

Look at the websites of your competitors.  Ask at least 10 trusted colleagues to take notes of any and all item(s) that your competitor does better, especially ones who don’t know your business.  You should do this exercise yourself as well, but, don’t prioritize your own findings, you’re way too biased because you’re too close to your own business and industry.  Put all feedback together, adding up the items that are repeated.  Meet with 3 of the trusted colleagues and prioritize the weaknesses that are most significantly harming your rank against competitors.  Tackle the top 3 items, don’t move down the list until they’re accomplished.  Rinse and repeat.

• Easy as 1-2-3?

Ensure that your website follows the rules of the Secrets of Online Success (SOS).  Your website must be consistent with your brand, visually appealing, simple for potential customers to find and purchase the product/service they are seeking, quickly and easly.  Not sure how to make this clear?  Compare with your competitors, which site is it easier to find information on?  Remember, the amount of time it takes a website visitor to find the information they are seeking is infinitely more important than the number of clicks.

There are many avenues that you can explore to attract new customers and increase your revenue.  Do not do this until you’ve ensured that your website presence is in top shape.  I’ve witnessed hundreds of companies implementing numerous time consuming and expensive initiatives from paid ads to social media campaigns, generating impressive amounts of traffic to their websites, but, feeling disappointed when sales didn’t spike as much as anticipated.  Would you go out on a date without making sure that you look your best?  I didn’t think so!  Your website is on a first date with every one of your potential customers.  Within a few seconds of visiting your site, the first impression is set in stone and the visitor to your site has already decided if they will do business with you or not.   Because first impressions are nearly impossible to reverse, it’s critical to ensure that you’ve set the right one.

So… are you going to accept the status quo or are you going to eliminate your weaknesses and take charge of your business to create your own success?  It’s all up to you now.  Don’t sit idle giving your competitors an opportunity to gain an edge on you, because believe me, if you are they may be narrowing that competitive gap quicker than you think.

–

Brent Mondoux
CEO, N-VisionIT Interactive
brent@betterwebsites.ca

Ottawa web design

Every week we take the time to determine which ones we will bid on by using our typical approach.  At the beginning of each day we sit down and prioritize, consider the types of projects along with the quality and detail within each.  Finally, we assess the feasibility of any budgets identified.

I’ve noticed a trend that is evidently growing.  A whole lot of request for proposals start out with wording that reveals an issue with the contract awarding processes of many companies.  While the wording slightly varies, it typically starts with “We previously hired a development team that could not deliver….”

This brings up several important questions and considerations that need to be made.  Why is this happening?  Why is this trend growing?  Is it the fault of the customers or suppliers?  Could it have been prevented?

While, undoubtedly, the precise issues will vary and fault will inevitably fall on different sides on a case-by-case basis, I thought it would be interesting to take a different approach this time.  Here was my game plan… I was going to call each of these companies and identify that I would not be able to submit a proposal for their project unless I could review their original requirements documentation and the original developer’s proposal.  I was honest and straightforward about my reasoning; I wanted to determine where the issues occurred so that I can ensure that they are prevented when I submit a proposal.  To my surprise, dozens of companies obliged and shared this information with me.  Unfortunately, it revealed a much bigger issue!

Many companies are awarding projects of significant importance to their organizations based primarily on price and giving very little consideration to what they are actually receiving.  A charitable organization in Ottawa in particular awarded a project to the lowest bidder of $7,500.00 when all other bids were $30,000.00 to $50,000.00.  When I asked her why, she said “I called them up and asked them if everything in my request for proposal was handled they said yes”.  What they said and what was in the written contractual agreement were two entirely different things.  Her organization’s request for proposal detailed some 35 required ecommerce functionalities detailing complex rules surrounding shipping integration, taxation calculation, gift certificates and the list goes on.  The proposal that her organization selected however had a single line item that said “eCommerce functionality with checkout – $3,000.00”.  There was no contractual commitment to taxation, no details related to shipping cost calculations, no details at all… this is a red flag!

If you care about the success of your company and your career, when you review proposals, you must compare apples to apples.  Make sure all details are outlined and that all the bases are covered.

If the proposal doesn’t provide the functionalities required to fulfill all of your requirements, it’s not going to meet your needs.  If the vendor is unwilling to add those details to the contract, you’ve got an issue on your hands.  Assuming you wanted a house with 13 rooms, 2 bathrooms and an attached double garage; would you sign a purchase contract that doesn’t explicitly identify these inclusions?  Of course not… then why are so many companies selecting vendors based solely on price and not on what‘s being delivered?

One of the main issues is that in the majority of these cases the purchaser doesn’t have the experience to select the best vendor.  If you want your company to succeed in this highly competitive world, do not empower the wrong purchasers to buy something for your company.  Purchases are investments in your business.  If you choose a vendor that cannot deliver, you will introduce a risk of failure.  Even worse, if your competitor chooses a vendor that not only delivers, but excels, your risks begin to escalate even higher and potentially expose you to a risk of unsustainability.

Getting a little nervous about choosing the wrong vendor the next time?  Don’t be… you shouldn’t be driven by fear; just ensure that you remain aware and unbiased.  Chalk up the above lessons, formalize your selection criteria, perform your due diligence and then pull the trigger.  If you maintain a commitment to improve your vendor selection process, your company will reap the rewards.  You’re busy… I know… so am I.  But at the same time I also know that a company’s rank in their respective industry can be impacted by the very suppliers that they choose to do business with.  Discount this and you’re not just giving up potential customers to your competitors, you’re potentially risking your company’s image.  Remember that old saying, “caveat emptor“?

–

Brent Mondoux
CEO, N-VisionIT Interactive
brent@betterwebsites.ca

Ottawa web design

The Day I Almost Lost My Son and Wife
Personal blog by our CEO, Brent Mondoux

Let’s go back to March 17^th, 2004…

It was a frantic day and everyone was tired.  My beautiful wife had been in labour for three days with no eating and mere minutes of sleep.  She somehow managed to keep a smile on her face but she was exhausted.  While one of the nurses had good intentions, she forgot to check the hospital registration forms prior to administering a drip that included a pain killer that Nat was allergic to.

After three inductions, the fourth one finally succeeded and our beloved son, Aiden, was on his way, but nothing could prepare us for what was about to happen.   I’ve replayed his birth over and over in my head and every time it feels as if time has stopped, just like it did that very day.

Our beautiful little boy, Aiden, was born but he wasn’t moving.  I looked on in fear as the doctor looked up at us and spoke in a calm, controlled tone as if it was routine “You cannot hold your baby yet.  Don’t panic, you won’t hear him cry for a while.”

Within less than a minute, our room transformed from a calm delivery with a doctor and two nurses, into a frantic scene of a dozen medical professionals.  Dividing their attention between Nat and Aiden, they performed their duties as if they had been through this a thousand times.  Not a single voice rose, nor a single display of panic, working harmoniously they attempted to diffuse the emergencies at hand.

Overhearing their discussions, I finally began to understand the severity of the situation.  Aiden might not survive and Nat had post-labour complications and appeared to be hemorrhaging.  Was I about to lose my wife and my son?  Was the next five minutes of my life going to change everything forever?  Would my soul be able to weather the damage from such a catastrophe?

As I snapped back to reality two words overpowered my mind… “Not today”.  Still helplessly looking on I leaned over into a group hug with Nathalie and her sister Christina as we cried in each other’s arms.  Another minute passed which felt like an hour and silence was suddenly enveloped by the sound of Aiden’s cry.  “H-he’s okay?”, Nat muttered and I nodded as I said “I think so Princess”.

I left her side to talk to the medical team who informed me that his lungs were collapsed and that he would need to be admitted to the intensive care unit.  He was whisked away in a bubble as the team continued to work towards his stabilization while other professionals remained behind to ensure Nat’s immediate risks were taken care of.

Neither Nat nor I got to hold our son in our arms that night or for several days after.  Over the next few days Nat was released and we lived part-time in the intensive care unit visiting Aiden.  Within a few days we were permitted to hold our son in our arms.  Another week passed and the blur of emergencies cleared themselves up.  We were able to go home with our beautiful baby boy.

Today, Aiden is 8 years old, clever and witty, happy and curious.  Despite some minor developmental challenges, we work with him every evening and he always tries his best.  He has a bright future ahead of him thanks to that wonderful team of medical professionals who orchestrated the saving of his life at the Ottawa Hospital, General Campus.

I remember that day more than any other one that I’ve been alive.  I am so thankful that there are medical professionals who are so great at their job that they were able to perform a miracle with their very own hands and save both my gorgeous wife and beautiful son’s life on that day.  Aiden is alive because of them – March 17, 2004 a miracle happened.

Now, let me ask you this – if you sprain an ankle, break a tooth, your roof leaks, your car breaks down, you lose some money or even lose your house… compared to a situation of this severity, how can you sweat it?

Most problems that occur are “small stuff”, inconsequential and irrelevant in a matter of days, weeks or years – they are not permanent.  Most problems can be solved with a bit of work.  Stressing about it won’t help the situation, so what’s the use?

Next time that you find yourself stressed or worried, I want you to stop what you’re doing and adjust your reaction.  If it helps, come back and read this blog again.  Once you are able to realize what “small stuff” really is, it becomes hard to let it get to you.

If my disclosure of this very personal time in my life helps only one person to sweat the small stuff less, then it was worth the time I took to write it.  Thank you for taking the time to let me share this experience with you.

–

Brent Mondoux
CEO, N-VisionIT Interactive
brent@betterwebsites.ca

Ottawa web design

Quite simply, the Internet has become a critical medium for the generation of revenue for many companies.  Many of these companies rely heavily on the revenues generated from their organic traffic, or unpaid search results.  The result of losing even a few positions in rank, often times is the difference between a business that is thriving and a business that is bleeding.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t take much to shift the tide, and the difference between a few placements could easily result in the loss of 70-90% of a companies’ targeted traffic.  Think about how you use a search engine.  Most individuals open the first 3-5 links that catch their eye and within a minute they’ve narrowed down their potential customer list to 2 or 3 options at most.  If your website is not one of the links that catches their eye, then you don’t even have a chance to make a sale…. zero percent!!! That’s horrible odds!

How important is being at the top of search engine results?

Answer the question yourself.  How many new customers do you gain monthly from your online presence?   If the answer is 100, what if starting next month you only gained 30 clients per month for the next year?  How well would your business fare during this lull? How about we reverse that thought?  What if you’re accustomed to gaining 30 new customers monthly?  How much better would your company fare if you were all of a sudden gaining 100 new customers monthly?  Think about it… put tangible numbers on paper… visualize the increase or decrease in business…. almost there… visualize it a bit more…. there, you got it!  Now you understand!

But my pages are optimized, what gives?

While your pages may very well be optimized, it’s not the only part of the equation.  Let’s look at what is important to search engines:

• On-page search engine optimization (worth <=25% of your ranking score)
• Off-page search engine optimization (worth >= 75% of your ranking score)

The first item above refers to “page optimization”.  This is an important part of the equation and complimentary for all other optimization efforts, however, it only has the capacity to increase your score by less than or up to 25% of its potential.

What is on-page and off-page search engine optimization anyhow?

On-page SEO is search engine optimization efforts done within the actual pages of your website.  To name a few, this includes the organization of your website and the pages within it including filenames, titles, keywords, image file names and the list goes on.

Off-page SEO consists of search engine optimization with pages that are not actually part of your website.  To name a few, this includes links to your website, including their appearance, how quickly these links are appearing, keywords used within links and the reputation of the sites that are linking to yours (warning: sites with bad reputation can cause significant harm to your search engine positioning)

Why can’t my site be search engine optimized once and then its good forever?

Search engine optimization is an ongoing effort.  While on-page optimization can typically be handled once and then tweaked quarterly based upon new products and new SEO techniques, off-page optimization requires ongoing continuous efforts.  Why is that?  Because undoubtedly your competitors will continue to focus on their off-page SEO efforts and inevitably if you don’t, their rank will rise above yours in a matter of time.   More importantly, search engines have built algorithms to prevent any company from trying to “cheat” the system and increase their rank through unacceptable techniques and furthermore penalizes companies who are inactive online.

Tell me all the techniques I need to know!  What are they?

There’s no way I could do that in a single article.  While there’s no definitive formula for each of the respective search engines there are some common do’s and don’ts you need to consider.  Here’s the best recommendations that most individuals can handle on their own

On-page SEO

Make sure each of your pages uses unique file names, page titles, image file names and content unique to the product or service you are marketing within that specific page.  If you are a local bakery, don’t try to load all of your products into one page, break it up!  One page that targets each type of product: pastries, cookies, cakes, cupcakes, etc.

Off-page SEO

Don’t spam the Internet.  Don’t post on garbage sites (translation: unknown forums with a bunch of other spam posts is not a good place).  I can hear you now… darn it… you’re making my job hard!  I know… SEO is not easy work, it’s time consuming and requires patience and attention to detail.  Sorry… like everything else in life… there’s no real way to get rich quick… well… beyond being lucky… but if you’re willing to gamble your business on luck, then stop reading my article now, cause I can’t help you.

Okay, so what you do is create one-way inbound links to your site from other sites (Note: reciprocal links, the ones where you ask someone to link to you if you link back don’t count, search engines don’t give points for these).  Don’t just link back to yourself without any thought, consider what others will search for when looking for your services.  For example, when linking to a local pastry shop, I’d be more inclined to name the link “Ottawa homemade buns” than to name it “PastrysRus”.  This tells search engines what the link to your site is about, and when those search terms are used by individuals performing searches, you are more likely to be included in the search results.

Make sure you dedicate a few hours a week to creating inbound links.  If you pay attention to quality and don’t spam, you’ll never be able to create too many, you can expect to create 10-15 quality links an hour once you get good at it.  If you do this 5-10 hours a week, you’ll have 75-150 inbound links every week.  If you use automated services, you’ll end up with thousands of “garbage” links and search engines will penalize you for it.

I want to learn more!

Consider researching “pagerank” and “social media” to get started.  Having an in-depth understanding of how search engines position you can be a vital tool in your competitive arsenal when trying to increase your profits.

Want to increase your performance even more?

Hire a professional that knows what they’re doing.  Hire someone who can explain the efforts in a way that you understand, so you know what you’re paying for.  Unfortunately, there’s no way an article can teach you what I’ve learnt over thousands upon thousands of hours and there’s no way your efforts will ever beat a professional team that focuses solely on these efforts.  Besides, wouldn’t you make way more profits performing tasks that you’re already good at with those thousands of hours… and wouldn’t you be happier as well?

You wouldn’t go to a gun-fight with a toenail clipper would you?  If you’re serious about your business and its success within your industry (I know you’re nodding right now)… s-l-o-w-l-y… put down those clippers… and give us a call!

As you can see, there’s a lot to search engine optimization and reaching the top of search engine results, but, there’s even more to staying on top!  It’s well known that search engines continue to enhance their ranking algorithms each and every month and this trend is only going to accelerate.  It’s always been about location… location… location… and that’s no different today, when it comes to search engine positioning, where do you want your location?

–

Brent Mondoux
CEO, N-VisionIT Interactive
brent@betterwebsites.ca

Ottawa search engine optimization

Do you aim to build long-term mutually beneficial relationships with all of your clients?  Of course you do!  How do you make that expectation clear and pave the path towards achieving this goal.

Enclosed is an email that we send to each and every new client.  On the surface, it may appear that we’re taking advantage of an opportunity to boast, but this letter summarizes 15 years of history here at N-VisionIT and re-enforces to our new clients the importance of choosing a team that will be with them regardless of the situation – celebrating their successes and helping them through their challenges.

The fact of the matter is that your customers are as busy as you are and won’t have the time to learn everything they need to know about your business.  In fact, they may not even be aware of the possible ways that your business can help theirs grow.  Sending introductory and ongoing emails can help prevent this from occurring and serve as a constant invitation to further strengthen the relationship.  What are you leaving on the table?

Here’s the email:

WELCOME TO THE N-VISIONIT FAMILY!

Congratulations! By joining our family, you’ve just made the most important commitment to your business since opening the front doors! The fact is that as technology continues to evolve, an Internet presence is now one of the most vital elements to a company’s long term success.

We’ve dedicated our professional lives to empowering our clients with the vital keys necessary to create a formula that propels their success and competitive advantages to levels that have their competitors shaking in their boots.

We’ve generated over a hundred million dollars in revenue for our clients, thrusting hundreds ahead of their competitors and we’ve helped to align over a dozen companies for successful acquisition. Quite simply, we turn businesses on their heads, dissect them if necessary and put them back together. We create leaders that are so formidable, entire industries have changed.

Think we’re just boasting? Think again… take a look at our testimonials, they speak for themselves!

“This is now my ‘go to’ company for website development work. I am happy to refer others to them as well, since I know anyone I send to them will have a great experience. I look forward to seeing them grow, as I have no doubt they will, as their reputation grows.”

At this time we encourage you to follow us on our social media channels. While this seems like an effort to be self promoting, the reality is that our founding team was brought together as a result of their deeply caring personalities and relentless determination to help businesses around them succeed. It’s truly their passion! They’re devoted to learning from and teaching others about business, technology and achieving balance and success in all areas of life – including the relationships with their families and friends and their own well being. In fact, our social media channels are managed by our very own CEO, Brent Mondoux. While he has a team that he works with behind the scenes to bring you the best and latest information around the clock, he personally verifies and reviews every piece of information that is communicated for your benefit. If only one of the hundreds of social media interactions each and every month assists and motivates you to improve one aspect of your life (business or personal), positive momentum will take over and you’ll quickly benefit in ways that you never knew possible. Connect with us on these social media channels today, you live once and it’s time to take control.

Well now that we’ve welcomed you to our family, it’s time for you to do the same. Tell us about yourself, your ambitions and your goals for the future. You’ll be astounded what a family can do as a team. The future awaits and it’s brighter than ever…

Sincerely,

Your N-VisionIT Team

N-VisionIT Interactive SM2 social media superhero.

Ottawa, ON, Aug. 21, 2012 – Deep beneath the streets of Canada’s capital lives a superhero who catapults brands into the Internet and saves businesses from the perils of poor social media marketing.  His name is N-VisionIT Interactive CEO Brent Mondoux. His superpower? A top-secret strategy known to agents as SM2 – social media superhero methodology.

Mondoux invented the revolutionary SM2 so businesses could arm themselves with a new weapon in the fight to increase website traffic and sales. SM2  helps businesses build loyal, authentic communities using long-term, customized social media strategies.

“It’s not just how to use social media. It’s how to use it well, today and over time, as your business changes and as technology evolves,” said Mondoux, whose company has created websites, mobile applications and social media strategies for clients around the world, including government agencies and Fortune 500 companies.

“We don’t want to just go in, show you how to Tweet and then leave,” said Mondoux, who hosts monthly social media webinars for the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce. “We want to help companies find their social media formula within SM2 . That’s guidance. That’s how you create real revenue.”

SM2  has four stages: learn, plan, execute and adapt. The rest—largely a lot of hard work genuinely engaging loyal followers—is classified, but the results are impressive.

“We can guarantee increased exposure. We’re the only company that can say that about our social media efforts,” said Mondoux. N-VisionIT is also the only firm which has devised a long-term social media methodology.

N-VisionIT Interactive is an Ottawa-based company specializing in website design, mobile development and social media services. In 2003, four years after it was founded, N-Vision IT was named one ofProfit Magazine’s Hot 50 Companies.

For more information about SM2 and N-VisionIT Interactive, please visit www.betterwebsites.ca. To arrange an interview with N-VisionIT Interactive CEO Brent Mondoux, please call (613-722-1965).

by Brent Mondoux, CEO, N-VisionIT Interactive.  Published by the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce.

Social media continues to evolve at breathtaking paces.  It’s becoming increasingly challenging for business professionals to decipher which endeavours reap rewards and which merely consume unnecessary time and energy.  With so many quick and easy social media options at our fingertips, many businesses are underestimating the importance of blogging.

What is a blog?  

A blog is a website that enables individuals and companies to share their unique perspectives on the topics of their choice with their readers.  Blogs can be used for infinite possibilities.  For example, a business owner can share news about his company, a mother can share news about her family, a celebrity can share news with fans and the list goes on.

Why are blogs so important?  

Blogs are capable of delivering an authoritative voice for companies, one that showcases its values.  They provide potential customers with the ability to learn about a company through the voices of its stakeholders.  Blogs also enable customers to keep up to date about what’s new and interesting.

How do I get started?

Before diving into blogging, take the time to brainstorm your goals and create a plan.  Research both your target audience and competitors.  This will enlighten you about what has worked well for others and help you determine the tone and message that you would like your blog to communicate.  Don’t forget to build a content plan.  There is nothing more frustrating than not knowing what to write about, so plan several weeks ahead.  Finally, hold yourself accountable and ensure that you blog consistently.  The more consistent that you are with your blogging, the easier it is to gain momentum and the higher chance of successfully reaching your goals.

There are more than 70 million active blogs on the Internet today.  Chances are your competitors are already blogging.  It’s time to get started today.  Your website is your resume, your blog and your social media presences are your preliminary interview.  Will you make the cut?

–

Brent Mondoux
CEO, N-VisionIT Interactive
brent@betterwebsites.ca

Ottawa web design

Which pages on your website get the most traffic? How about the least? Which page has the highest drop off rates? How much of your traffic is coming from mobile devices? If you don’t know the answers to any of these questions, you’re not alone…

The reality is that more than 99% of businesses that have an Internet presence haven’t the slightest clue what’s working and what isn’t in terms of attracting and converting leads into customers, nor do they even know if it’s being viewed by a device that can navigate it properly!   How to say this nicely… sorry I can’t find a way… this is simply ludicrous!

If one of your employees worked too slow, dressed unprofessionally or didn’t speak fluently, you would react in a heartbeat; but, why do so many business owners idly accept an underperforming website?  It’s simple!  It’s not because business owners don’t care, or aren’t aware of the shortcomings of their websites, it’s because they get caught up in the daily grind and delay addressing the priorities that will deliver the most significant contributions to their own long term success.

Getting caught up in the daily grind is a reality that everyone must face, myself included.  It challenges us by enticing us to focus on immediate points of pain rather than fixing and improving the underlying causes.  Unfortunately this results in a significant loss of positive momentum, one that could cost infinite opportunities.

In terms of websites, these causes are clouded by uncertainty due to insufficient technical experience among many companies.  Sales and marketing departments simply have no idea where to start or how to increase the effectiveness of their online presence.

Here are your next three steps:

• Ensure that your website is tracking your visitors clicks

• Make sure that key decision makers can read and understand these analytics, if they can’t, get them training or hire a professional to explain them to you

• Every quarter, assess these analytics and hold your online presences accountable.

Remember – this is the first point of contact for most of your potential customers.  At most, you have thirty seconds to create a first impression.  Will you sit as a leader within your industry?  The choice is up to you and your most powerful weapon is knowledge.  If you don’t know what’s weak, how will you improve?

–

Brent Mondoux
CEO, N-VisionIT Interactive
brent@betterwebsites.ca

Ottawa web design

One of the most common confessions that business owners have shared with me is that they are unable to keep up with the breathtaking pace of technology while keeping abreast of their own respective industries as they evolve.

The second most common confession is the one that troubles me the most.  Business owners have become so overwhelmed with technology that they are literally convincing themselves why they don’t need to adapt.

Some common statements heard in the last week alone include “My customers aren’t on mobile”, “Social media is a fad”, “News companies will cease to exist”.

Now let’s see… false, false, false!

Do you really believe those things you’ve just said?  Truly?  If so, you’ve got a bigger issue on your hands and need a little bit more than a reality check.

Mobile devices are already outselling computers and by 2018 there will be three times more mobile devices connected to the net than there are computers.  While social media will undoubtedly evolve and Facebook will unlikely reign as the supreme leader forever, social media has fulfilled a psychological need in individuals’ minds and will continue to flourish well into the future.  News and media companies have had significant challenges; however, people crave news and like to stay in the loop.  One way or another media companies will continue to adapt and find their footing in this quickly evolving technological jungle.

The next time you’re tempted to ignore the facts and draw your own conclusions, stop what you’re doing and take a break before you make a snap judgement that could potentially cost you months of catch up, years of lost momentum and decades of time in the race to become an industry leader.  We are all overwhelmed from time to time and inevitably make excuses (or possibly even *ahem* lie to ourselves), but we aren’t fooling anyone.  These white lies come bundled with extremely expensive tangible losses in terms impacting our bottom lines and our positions in our respective industries.

I don’t know about you, but as a business owner, I work way too hard to allow something as silly as a snap judgement to cost me our success.  One of my mentors once told me that every time you make the wrong snap judgement it costs you 10% of your momentum, if you make too many simultaneous wrong decisions you’ve lost your capability to compete in your industry.  It took me 10 years to fully understand the importance of this statement, but now that I do, I must pay it forward.

Stop putting on blinders.  Stop making snap judgements based upon your own conclusions simply because it’s easier in the short term.  There are enough obstacles in building a successful business, don’t let yourself become one of them simply because you don’t understand, you’re too busy or insert excuse book here.   Believe me, if your assumption comes at the cost of your own success, no matter what excuse you came up with initially, it’ll be painfully obvious that it was invalid.

–

Brent Mondoux
CEO, N-VisionIT Interactive
brent@betterwebsites.ca

Ottawa web design

Granted, there are companies without revenue models that have sold for breathtaking bounties.  Just this recent quarter, Draw Something sold to Zynga for $300 million and Instagram sold to Facebook for a whopping $1 billion.

How can I argue my point with such contradictory examples readily available for anyone to use as rebuttal arsenal?   Well quite simply, these were acquired because they were generating enough traffic and interest that they were at risk of negatively impacting the revenue streams of the other companies who acquired them.

I need to make it clear, however, these are exceptions to the rule and the reality is that for every one of these fantastic ideas that are acquired, there are 100,000 others that won’t be!

More food for thought: If these fantastic ideas had viable revenue models built into them, and as a result healthy balance sheets, how would the above acquisitions have played out?  Most certainly, the return on investment would have been double, triple or even more!

Now back to reality; for a few minutes let’s forget those few astronomical deals.  After all, they are few and far between.

What is the most common revenue plan?

Most entrepreneurs will identify advertising as their primary, and often times, only revenue plan.

Why doesn’t it work?

Even if your website, mobile or social media application gains 1 million visitors each and every month, you need to realize that virtually all revenue off of advertising is earned by “click thru” rates.  This means that you only get paid for ads that are clicked on, not displayed.  In 1990, the average click-thru rate was 3%, but today it’s a mere 0.2%!  That means, every 1,000 impressions you can expect 2 clicks!  That amounts to roughly 2,000 clicks per million visitors or a revenue stream of $500 to $1,000 per month, hardly enough to even cover the costs of creating your online presence, let alone worth the time required for ongoing maintenance.

What should I consider instead?

Go back to the basics.  Why would users use my online presence?  What motivates them to return?  How can I add value to their experience?  What would they be willing to pay for?

Thinking about the revenue model is almost as much work as coming up with the original idea!

Once you’ve brainstormed all of your ideas for revenue generation, set up a panel of trusted colleagues and potential customers that you would like to sell to and present your ideas to them.  Ask them if they’d consider paying for any of the deliverables you intend to create.  Research… research… research!

How will I know if it’ll work?

I know you want re-assurance that your ideas will work and generate more revenue than the expense required to create them; unfortunately, there’s no guarantee.  Your due diligence is your best primary weapon against failure.

The most important thing to consider is that once you’ve verified your idea, you need to execute.  If you sit on the idea for too long, in a state of what’s known as “analysis paralysis”, someone else will beat you to the punch.  It’s happened to me before, it’s a tough lesson to learn, you don’t want to be sitting in your chair mumbling “If only I…”

Oh and what was my idea that I sat paralyzed on?  It was a mobile application that took advantage of the accelerometer, a 25 year old American entrepreneur beat me to the punch and made a cool $1.1 million revenue in the first 30 days.  Believe me when I say, I speak from experience, analysis paralysis hurts… far more than you would ever imagine!

Once you’ve done your due diligence and have made the decision to take the risk, your perseverance will be the next tool you’ll need to see you through from inception to profits.  Whatever you do, pick an idea that you will be passionate about.  When you do something you love, it won’t feel like work and you’ll be more likely to excel even more and persevere better through both times of feast and famine.

I know what it’s like first hand to put my own money on the line to create something that didn’t previously exist.  The emotions that are triggered as a result of taking a chance are incomparable to any other.  Tremendous courage is required to take that first step.  Once you’ve done your due diligence, double checked your calculations and assumptions and verified your idea with a panel of trusted colleagues, you’re in for the wildest ride of your life… get ready to learn more than all previous jobs combined would have taught you, in far less time than you thought imaginable!  Oh and congratulations!

–

Brent Mondoux
CEO, N-VisionIT Interactive
brent@betterwebsites.ca

Ottawa web design

So then, what’s the truth?  Well, to add to the confusion, they both are!  Running a daily coupon shouldn’t be a split second decision and you need to understand both the pros and the cons of making this commitment.  Yes, you heard that right.  Running a coupon is a commitment… it’s a commitment to your company, your employees and your customers in a huge way.

Let’s take a look at the pros and cons:

Pros

• Anticipate a massive influx of potential new customers

Individuals are creatures of habit.  They get comfortable with the same neighborhoods, entertainment facilities and retailers of their favorite products.  By offering incentives to customers to try your products or services, you will gain a significant influx of potential new customers.

• Enjoy massive exposure of your business

While gaining a few thousand additional sales is something to celebrate, business owners often forget that tens or even hundreds of thousands who didn’t purchase the coupon still received the email and were reminded about your business.  This is extremely valuable!

• Quickly move stagnating inventory

Running a coupon surrounding products and/or services that are traditionally slower moving during a particular season is a great way to offset those times of the year when cashflow is traditionally tight.

• Helps build relationships

When done right, coupons can help to build more loyal relationships with your customers.  If possible, offer a coupon with bundled products or services that can be redeemed during multiple visits.  It gives your business more of a chance to create a lasting impression with the customer and increases the odds of increasing the loyalty towards your brand.

• Generates incremental revenues

The expenses of many service-based businesses are static.  While bringing in additional customers generates more revenue, expenses typically won’t increase.  Rock climbing gyms, martial arts academies, tanning salons all can benefit from this reality.

Cons

• Be prepared to lose money in the short term

The majority of coupon sites insist on offering significant discounts to maximize your sales (well… okay… their commissions).  If you sell a $50 coupon for $25, don’t forget that  you still need to provide the coupon site with their commission and will likely only pocket $12.50 per sale.  It’s very difficult to make a healthy profit (if any at all) off of 25% of the typical revenue that these services provide.

• Accept that your brand image may take a bit of a hit

If not done carefully, running a coupon could provide significant harm to your image.  If your business suddenly becomes extremely busy and you haven’t planned accordingly for it, the quality of the services and products you provide may suffer.  If this is the case, you risk potentially creating a bad impression with many of your loyal customers and this could cause irreparable harm to your image.  Be careful!

• Doesn’t generate a lot of repeat customers

Accept that many of the customers who purchase your coupons will likely only be one-time customers.  A large percentage of the sales are primarily because of the discount and that individual might not typically ever pay $75 for a haircut or $50 for an hour of entertainment.  Others may go out of their geographical comfort zone in order to reap the benefits of the deal, but otherwise, would typically not travel that far to purchase your services and products if it otherwise was not on sale.

Now let’s take a look at the commitments you need to make before running a coupon and how you should prepare yourself.

Commitments

Company

• Know what you’re getting into

Ensure that you know what you’re getting into.  You’ve decided to run this coupon for additional exposure and additional quick revenues, but not necessarily additional profits.  You need to educate and prepare your staff, brainstorm and market upsell and cross sell opportunities and provide high quality products and services at a discount.  This is your chance to create a lot of additional customers if done right, don’t blow it!  Ensure all of your other affairs are in order – capital on hand, adequate additional supplies on hand (if necessary) and a detailed staffing plan to accommodate additional inquiries.  Organize yourself and re-organize yourself after you adapt to the influx of potential new customers.

Customers

• Honor the deal

You’ve made a commitment to your customers to honor a deal.  The worst thing you can do for customer loyalty is to back out of a potential deal.  Consider the ramifications of bad word of mouth amongst their friends.  If you back out of 10 deals you could potentially lose 100 future customers, I don’t even want to think of the ramifications if you increase that number.

• Staff accordingly

Be prepared to increase your staff during the coupon redemption periods so that you can provide the same high quality services and products that your business typically delivers.  If your quality suffers, your odds of generating business dwindles accordingly.

Employees

• Prepare your employees

Ensure that your employees know how to answer questions and deal with potential issues.  Prepare them for the upcoming promotion to ensure that their stress levels remain low and their quality and professionalism remain high.  Not only will your employees appreciate this and have a higher sense of satisfaction while working, your customers will take note as well.

• Staff accordingly

If you don’t adjust the scheduling of your staff accordingly, quality will inevitably suffer.  Even worse, you could find yourself in the unpleasant situation of dealing with a staff resignation at the worst time possible.

Well that’s it in a nutshell.  Obviously I haven’t covered all the bases but I hope that I’ve provided enough insight to help you to make an informed decision.  I’ve witnessed customers on both ends of the spectrum, some enjoying wild success and some wondering how they will make payroll the following week as a result.  Just remember, running a coupon shouldn’t be an impulse decision, like anything else in life, it requires planning.

–

Brent Mondoux
CEO, N-VisionIT Interactive
brent@betterwebsites.ca

Ottawa web design

Having already reached 2.2 million daily active users and gaining the coveted rank of being the 59^th most visited website in the world (16^th most visited in the US), there are already rumors of Pinterest being considered as an acquisition target of social media industry leaders, Facebook and Twitter.  Think the growth is about to wane?  Actually, it’s the opposite… now that the site is getting to be known, it’s growth is about to explode at an exponential rate that hasn’t yet been witnessed to date!

What is Pinterest?

Pinterest is a virtual pin board integrated with the power of social media.  Visualize an office pinboard scattered with miscellaneous information (business cards, online menus, etc.) but available for the entire world to view.

Why use Pinterest?

Pinterest users are highly engaged, clocking in a staggering average visit of 89 minutes per user!  It’s the first social media channel to engage a significantly higher audience of females versus males (the primary decision makers of most major purchases such as home, fashion, kids and recreational activities).

Pinterest is already generating more referral traffic than Twitter and catching up quickly to Facebook.

How can Pinterest benefit my small business?

• Prequalified leads
  Because users browse and search based upon their interests, they are highly likely to be interested in the products and services that they are actively pinning into their boards.

• Friends and colleagues share common interests
  Because users categorize their interests by pinning them into boards, it becomes quick, easy and fun for their friends and colleagues to navigate their boards, thus creating additional valuable opportunities to showcase the products and services of your small business to their extended networks.  Since friends and colleagues often share and discuss common interests, this takes word of mouth to a whole new level!

• Better ranks in search engine results
  Pinterest is currently ranked highly by search engines therefore any referral links within pins help significantly with search engine optimization efforts.

How do I get started?

Create an account

• Create an account on Pinterest

• Fill out your profile, especially the “About” box.  Let people know who you are and what you do

• Connect to your social media channels so that the boards and pins that you create and share are also shared on your other social networks

Create boards and pins

• Create boards for each group of products or services

• Within each board, upload a photo for each of the products or services.  Important: ensure your photos are visually appealing and best represent your products or services.  Quality is vital.

• Take the time to describe each product or service, using the keywords that you anticipate users would use when searching for it.  Don’t forget to add a link to the actual product or service on your website.  This will create traffic by providing a convenient link to those who are interested in more information.

Engage with your audience

These are the most important tasks, if you’re going to skip these, don’t even bother performing any of these recommendations, you will just be wasting your time.  Yes, there is actual work in social media and sadly results don’t happen overnight.  Those who aren’t willing to invest the time, or just get ‘too busy’, will have lost the opportunity to reap the benefits of the viral power of Pinterest.

• Invite your family, friends, customers, suppliers and anyone else that are likely to be interested or willing to pin and share your products or services to their colleagues

• Create a scheduled task to search for products and services that are similar to yours (minimum 2-3 hours a week, every week, don’t quit after a few weeks).  Pin, like and follow other users who share similar content.  By doing this, you increase your odds of increasing the number of times your boards are followed and pinned exponentially! (did I mention don’t quit after a few weeks?)

So there you have it.  Now that you’ve got a game plan, it’s time to get started!  This will be one of the tools in your social media arsenal that will propel the growth of your business in 2012.  I hope you enjoyed my article and found it useful, if you have any feedback or questions please feel free to post them below in the form of a comment.

–

Brent Mondoux
CEO, N-VisionIT Interactive
brent@betterwebsites.ca

Ottawa web design

References:
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/pinterest.com
http://www.vabsite.com/2012/02/pinterest-users-usage-trends-statistics.html
http://ansonalex.com/infographics/social-media-usage-statistics-2012-infographic/#infographic

Why can small businesses no longer just get by with a website?  A website on its own won’t create customers, it needs to attract visitors!  Furthermore, these visitors must be potential customers.  If you own a comedy club in Ottawa, and the majority of your traffic is from the US, you can be certain that it’s not generating you additional customers.  Even worse, if it’s not generating traffic at all then it serves no purpose whatsoever.

“A website without traffic is like a business without roads to get to it”
– Brent Mondoux, CEO of N-VisionIT Interactive

So then, how do business owners generate traffic?  Traffic is commonly generated by a complete and well-rounded marketing strategy that targets both conventional and online methods.

Due to unique attributes of every business, there’s no way to put together a formal plan that meets all needs, but there are many common elements that are vital to ensuring that a website is given the leverage of traffic needed so that it can convert leads into customers.

• Traditional marketing materials
  Market online presences in business cards, brochures, posters, product samples, etc.

•  News/media
  By mentioning your web address in press releases, television interviews; you provide a way for leads to get in contact with you that’s easy to remember

• Email
  By mentioning your online presences in your email signature, your leads and clients have a quick, convenient way to visit your online presences.  Inclusion of these links in monthly email newsletters is also a great way to increase exposure to leads.

• Search engine marketing (paid search results)
  Paid search results are vital for a business at any stage.  Even 13 years into business, we still have paid search results campaigns for one reason, because it works.  It takes money to make money and if you’re still against paying for targeted search engine results, that’s your choice, but you can bet your competitors aren’t, and they’re likely benefiting from your ignorance.

• Search engine optimization (organic search results)

Organic search results takes time and a lot of investment energies because it’s an ongoing process.  Not only does your site need to be put together in a manner that’s appealing for search engines, but, it also needs to have reputable links from other websites in order to be considered a credible website by search engines.  Furthermore to make matters more challenging, if you don’t invest regularly in this process, you’ll find your rank dropping while your competitors reputation grows.

Quick tip: Be wary of quick-fix SEO “pros” who promise quick results in a short timeframe.  One of my clients was promised to be on first page results for “Ottawa comedy entertainment” and paid dearly for this right, only to find out that there are less than 25 searches monthly for this term.  Out of pocket expenses exceeded $5,000.00 and revenue to date is very likely near the $0 mark. Ouch!

• Social media
  This hasn’t become popular by chance.  It’s not a fad and it’s not going anywhere.  This is the perfect forum for people with busy lives (most of the population) to quickly and efficiently share their interests.  Word of mouth is one of the most powerful marketing methods and when done effectively can be the difference between success and being an industry leader.  Think about it.

Which would make you react first?

An advertisement that says “Buy our tantalizingly good ice cream”

(or)

A friend’s comment “Wow! Some of the most delicious ice cream I’ve ever had!”

Not only is social media a less expensive form of marketing, it’s infinitely more effective, when done right!

• Mobile apps and mobile websites
  With smartphones on pace to outsell computers by 2015, mobile apps are especially powerful for businesses that target consumers.  Think about it.  You’re heading downtown with some friends trying to figure out where to go.  How often does a phone come out and your friends start naming off options?  Mobile websites are helping to tilt the scales on close decisions every day.  One decision a day for a group of 5 individuals could amount to an additional $10,000+ in revenue each month for a local restaurant, at little/no additional expense!  Now that’s return on investment!

…the list goes on and on (blogs, forum participation, online videos, link building, etc.)!

What’s vital to learn is that experimenting with these methods is unlikely to deliver results in a short-time period and if you don’t know what you’re doing, chances are that any results achieved will be temporary.  It’s important to take the time required to learn them.  Learning through experimentation is fine also, it’ll just take more trial and error and more time to finally see results.  Unfortunately, most individuals grow impatient and give up before results are ever realized.  Not to mention there are also ongoing challenge of time constraints and other responsibilities getting in the way.

Don’t try paid search engine marketing for a few weeks; or social media marketing for a few months; or a low quality quickly assembled email newsletter that never goes out on time; or a mobile app that looks like it was built by an amateur designer.  The results you get will directly correlate with what you put into it.  If you do a half-assed job, then be prepared to pull down your pants and look at your moon because that’s about all the benefit you can expect to receive.

Well… now the rest is up to you.  Do you want your business to grow?  When’s the last time your website acquired a lead?  I’ve had 7 this morning alone.

–

Brent Mondoux
CEO, N-VisionIT Interactive
brent@betterwebsites.ca

Ottawa web design

Flash forward to 2007, essentially rinsing and repeating this story year after year.  The story remains the same… until another company comes along, swoops down and over the next 2 years they even out the market.  Suddenly it’s a 50/50 playing field, but the momentum seems irreversible and another threat enters the market.

Who am I talking about?

Research in Motion (RIM).  Anyone who lives in the Ottawa area has witnessed the true costs of accepting the status quo.  Round after round of layoffs, multiple acquisitions in an attempt to reverse the tide, resignations from high-level executives, you name it!

Why do I address this topic? Because it’s vital that every business owner in their role as a leader take the time every couple of months to step back and look at the big picture, ensure that picture is in perspective and then allow themselves several hours to think without boundaries; to think “outside the box”.

It’s also very beneficial to bring together a team and discuss the opportunities and challenges at hand and to further brainstorm the best ideas that were conceptualized during any brainstorming sessions, without any concern for potential barriers.  It’s important to get an outsider’s perspective on them and it’s even more vital to continue to innovate and remain a leader in your industry.

As an outsider of Research In Motion (RIM), my perspective is formed primarily based upon the details that are readily available via media, blogging and other public channels.  I’m not naïve enough to think that I’ve got the full picture, but, having watched the innovation of both Apple and Google during their breathtaking rise in the smartphone industry, the impact that thinking outside the box and innovating can have on the bottom line of a company is crystal clear.

Do you think the smartphones we use today no longer have any more room for innovation?  Do you think the Internet has reached its peak?  Where do you see the next 5 or 10 years of innovation?  It’s both fun and exciting to think without boundaries.

Go ahead and put some time aside to do nothing other than think outside the box.  A few hours of creative brainstorming could bring you to your next blockbuster idea… give it a try!

–

Brent Mondoux
CEO, N-VisionIT Interactive
brent@betterwebsites.ca

Ottawa web design

Every January instead of a making a New Year’s resolution, I opt to do something a little more useful with my time, a process which can make not just one positive change in my life, but potentially many.  I recap all of my accomplishments from the previous year.  This includes reviewing each week’s summary on my “to do list” and highlighting my most significant successes that were accomplished and then highlighting the most significant tasks that still were incomplete.

In doing so I noticed that I had put a lot of my priorities on hold because I was starting too many new projects and so I’ve made a commitment now to simply finish what I start.  This forces me to prioritize the options in which I choose to invest my time in and has already made a significant positive impact on my productivity.  How so?

Here’s the list of some of the personal accomplishments I’ve tackled in the month of January alone.  I’ve also included links in case you’d like to learn more about why I’ve made the decisions that I have:

• Started renovating our basement, slated for completion by the end of Q1 2012

• Changed personal investment strategy from mutual funds to indexed funds (why are these better?)

• Increased my deductibles on my house and car insurance saving 25% in annual insurance expenses (find out more)

• Opened up an registered education savings plan for my son (this may not be the best investment for many parents since it’s not tax-deductible, do your research)

• Started the re-assessment and refinancing of one of the multiplexes that I own in order to maintain a positive momentum in my real estate investments (how to make a million in real estate in 5 years)

• Assessed 30 multiplexes for future investment, closed on one multiplex

Furthermore, this week I received my diploma from Doug and Melanie Nelson’s Catch Fire University that I also recently successfully completed and I’m very proud of myself.

Most importantly my new approach of finishing what I’ve started is rewarding me in ways I never knew possible –stress is practically non-existent, I don’t feel overwhelmed even when extremely busy and I remain 100% confident that I’m focused on the highest priorities on my list at all times and by completing what I start, I don’t leave any loose ends behind.

You should try it!  Make a commitment to yourself to finish everything that you start.  You’ll be utterly surprised how free this commitment will make you feel!  If you “sweat the small stuff” now, don’t worry, it’ll soon be a side-effect of your past.

–

Brent Mondoux
CEO, N-VisionIT Interactive
brent@betterwebsites.ca

Ottawa web design

Because this article will touch on a number of real life instances, I will refrain from using these companies’ names to protect their identities.

After I publish this article, I fully expect a number of my trusted partners, colleagues and clients to call me, I know that I’ll hit a chord and well… the truth always hurts.  So here are the most common scenarios where focusing on the maximization of profits tend to erode a company’s potential for long-term success.

• When long term is ignored

If you are sacrificing the long-term success of the company in order to maximize your short term profits, no matter the justification, it’s going to cost you significantly.

I’ve personally witnessed two companies delay important long-term investments within their own infrastructure and software investments until it was no longer a choice.  In both instances, by the time it was no longer a choice, it was too late.  By the time they started to invest, they were on a tilt, losing customers quickly and couldn’t get the new infrastructures into place quick enough to reverse the tide.

Both of these companies have folded, hundreds have lost their jobs.  These two business owners have become the most painful individuals to have a conversation with, every few minutes their topic of conversation wanders back to their regrets, ranting the classic “If only I…” over and over again.

•  When vision is blurred

Those who fail to plan, plan to fail.  You must create a long-term vision and focus on it.  If you get too far off-track, the company can quickly lose its competitive edge.

I’ve witnessed countless companies to date that got distracted by too many “pet projects” that resulted in them going in circles.  Ever see a dog chase its own tail?  It’s painful!  Try watching a business owner do the same… it’s ridiculous that they don’t even realize that what they’re doing is preventing themselves from ever reaching their long-term goals.  I bet you’ve already thought of a few colleagues that have a tough time accomplishing anything because of their inability to focus on one project and see it through to completion, haven’t you?

This is why it’s vital to maintain and continually re-assess a long-term plan.  Hold yourself accountable with priority lists.  When you deviate from this plan, figure out why and prevent it from happening again, or, adjust your to-do list so long as it compliments your long-term vision.

• When sustainability is not considered

Sustainability of a business model is an important consideration.  Making decisions that will maximize immediate profits but not be sustainable in the long-term can be a dangerous model.

Think about the number of companies who went under over the years by maximizing immediate profits only to find themselves in an unrecoverable situation afterwards.  There are dozens of companies that can be named that used to manufacture typewriters, cassette tapes and vacuums that have went out of business.  The ones who survived reinvested in evolving markets, building products and services that would continue to be in demand.  Short term profits were sacrificed in order to ensure a bright and prosperous future for these companies.

Even just last week, I witnessed this classic mistake once again.  I had a call from a friend of mine who owns an electronics store in Toronto.  He enjoyed healthy returns for 3 years when all televisions were being changed to flat panels and amassed a whopping profit.  He then followed that up by saying “Unfortunately now that the fad is over, I have hundreds of thousands of dollars in inventory that is depreciating in value faster than I can sell it.  Even worse, now I’ve got to survive the next 5-10 years on limited capital until the next big trend comes along while taking a hit on slow moving inventory”.  By riding the trend and ignoring sustainability, he’s put himself into this challenging situation.  He put all his eggs in one basket instead of investing the profits into the sustainability of his business.  As a friend, I’ve recommended to him that he should find a team of experienced consultants to brainstorm and assemble a plan that will help him overcome this challenge and reinstate the sustainability of his business.  Unfortunately now that his cashflow is constrained, this is going to be one of his most difficult challenges to date.

• When morals are questioned

When companies make decisions to cut against the grain of their own moral fibers simply to maximize profits, they are essentially playing Russian Roulette with their own business.  Companies who step outside the bounds and perform an action that they or their customers could perceive to be immoral will inevitably lose the trust of their customer base.  As tempting as it may be to “make a quick buck”, it always comes at the expense of sacrificing the potential for increased long-term profits and success.

So if maximizing profits is the wrong approach, what’s the right one?  Focus on maximizing value instead.  If you maximize the value that your customers receive from the products and services that you offer, profit will begin to speak for itself.  Customers invest in products and solutions that fulfill a need or desire.  By focusing on maximizing the value, you ensure that the needs of your customers are being fulfilled.

Well now it’s time for my readers to share some of their stories.  I’d love to hear from you some of the instances where you’ve seen companies literally erode their value, hindering their own positive momentum because they focused on the solitary goal of maximizing profits, at all cost, ignoring the importance of ensuring that they were providing a fair value proposition.

–

Brent Mondoux
CEO, N-VisionIT Interactive
brent@betterwebsites.ca

Ottawa web design

After an individual answers this question, I encourage them to perform an exercise.  This exercise can be performed any time, any place but best done where they typically make decisions of this type.  I ask them to setup a camcorder and record the entire exercise so that we can review it together.

This exercise has absolutely no rules, no time limit and only a few simple steps:

1. Identify 3 products or services that you will likely purchase in the next 1-3 months
2. Using whatever resource you typically would, start your research today (e.g. phone, yellow pages, Internet, etc.)
3. Once you are done narrowing down your options for these 3 products or services, document your decision

That’s it!  It really is that simple.  Go ahead and do the exercise now.  Document your results and compare them to ours.  You’ll see that they’ll be exactly the same.

So, what were our results? What did these individuals learn? Out of 11 individuals who performed this exercise, 29 of 33 decisions started with a simple search on the Internet.  Within mere minutes the majority of decisions were narrowed down to between 2 or 3 options and some decisions were even completed.  In more than half of these cases, the products or services that these individuals were seeking were not sold online, but, the information that they found was still absolutely vital in helping them to make their decisions.

IMPORTANT
Even if you don’t sell products or services online, it is where
the majority of customers decisions are initiated.

Furthermore we learnt how narrow our attention span is and how critical it is to be able to find answers to our questions quickly and efficiently.  Most decisions resulted in a handful of options within a few minutes and were quickly narrowed down to 1 or 2 options within a few minutes more.  Each site visited was given an average of 27.7 seconds of attention to make its sales pitch and then the decision makers moved on.  We also noticed that any website that was not visually appealing or easy to use gave us a bad first impression and was closed within 7 seconds or less in all scenarios.What did we learn from reviewing the camera footage together?   We quickly learnt that the majority of decisions, even our own are made online.  We are both privileged to witness how vital first impressions really are.  We’re all taught not to judge a book by its cover, not to make a snap judgment but we all do it.  The Internet is just too convenient to move onto the next option, because, well… there’s always another option.  Worst of all, a bad first impression lasts a lot l0nger than a good one… possibly forever.

EXCEPTION
It’s actually better to have no website at all than to
have one that makes your business look bad.

Finally, in 30 of 33 decisions we also learnt that we only really considered the options from the first page of search results.  Only in 3 scenarios were the results on subsequent pages even considered.

The truth is that by watching yourself perform your own decision making, a cataclysmic transformation in the way that you think will occur. You will no longer question why your business needs a website.  You will quite literally now be questioning why you were questioning it before.  Not only that,  you will also understand how absolutely critical it is that your website is built with quality, care and an understanding that practically everyone makes snap judgments which significantly influence where they will obtain the products and services that they require and you’ll take action today.

I can already visualize the paper in front of you, it’s got three action items on it:

1. Get a website (get started)
2. Make sure it’s visually appealing and quick and easy to find information (get started)
3. Work towards getting on page 1 of search engine results (get started)

Good for you!  Now that you truly understand the power of the Internet and how it can quite literally be the difference between making a living and leading your industry, it’s time to get to work!  I don’t even need to say it because you’re already on your way to the start but in case you haven’t… get ready, get set, go!

–

Brent Mondoux
CEO, N-VisionIT Interactive
brent@betterwebsites.ca

Ottawa web design

Many of these businesses started out with brick and mortar locations and have since closed their physical presences as a result of higher revenues and profit margins from their online sales.  Unfortunately, many other businesses started to execute our mutually created game plan and then got busy and put it on the side burner.

What’s the result?  Their ability to grow their business, stay ahead of their competitors and truly reap the rewards of their competitive advantages has not yet been realized.  Ironically, many of these companies should be sitting in a far better situation today than they are, but, they continue to struggle because they’ve got caught up in the day-to-day operation of their business and put aside the most important activity that’s vital to any company’s long-term success – following a game plan.  We’ve all heard the old adage, when you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

So sit down and ask yourself honestly the following questions.  It’s time to see if you’re truly doing all that you can to ensure that your ecommerce business reaches its potential.  Focus on the reasons that you started your business to begin with and plan where you want to be in the next 5 years.  Now, ensure that you’re doing everything you can to get there.  Always push yourself a little bit harder, never accept the status quo and you’ll truly become a leader in your industry.

Here are the action items:

Make sure your site is built right!

• Categorize products and services by how your customers will search for them

Make sure you don’t miss out on sales because your site is more difficult to use than one of your competitors.  If you sell maps, and your customers are only interested in fishing maps and have to wade through all of your maps to find what they’re looking for, they may choose a competitor’s site where it’s easy to find what they’re looking for.

• Powerful search capabilities

Enabling your customers to search for products and services by options is tremendously valuable.  Depending on your products, the options are limitless (e.g. type of product, price range, sizes, style, what’s new, bundled deals, specials, clearance, etc.)

• Great customer service

Make it easy for your customers to ask questions, find answers and contact you.  Your customers are what keep you in business, ensure that they’re never left feeling like they’re on their own.  Display your phone number, email address, contact forms and frequently asked questions prominently on your ecommerce site.

Get traffic to your website

• Paid search engine marketing (SEM)

Ensure that you are purchasing paid search engine marketing services for your website.  If done right, targeted paid search engine marketing can be one of your best ROIs.  Even large, profitable companies are purchasing keywords, because they work (think Amazon.com)!  Learn more about search engine marketing

• Search engine optimization (SEO)

Ensure that your website is optimized for search engine indexing.  This doesn’t mean just optimizing the titles, keywords, file names, alt tags, etc.  It means learning about your customers, studying what they search for and potentially changing the layout of your site to attract more targeted traffic via search engines.  Learn more about search engine optimization

• Partnering sites

Take some time every month to consider potential partnering websites that could help sell your services.  If you sell chocolate, partner with companies who sell flowers, coffee or gift baskets.  This is a tremendously easy, but effective way to increase your sales dramatically with very little ongoing work after the partnership agreement has been set up.

• Affiliate sales

The largest online retailers of products and services have affiliate programs that motivate complimentary businesses and online entrepreneurs to sell products and services of other companies.  Every sale that an affiliate makes results in earned commission.  Learn more about this approach at Commission Junction

Currency

• Local currency

If a significant percentage of sales are generated from one specific country, and you do not accept payments using their local currency, then consider addressing this.  When one of our US clients, who sold 30% of their products and services to clients in the UK, started accepting payments via their own local currency, sales skyrocketed by 50%+ within just a few months!

• If you ship internationally, accept US currency payments

If you sell internationally, make sure your customers can purchase using US dollars.  The fact of the matter is that the majority of the world are comfortable making purchases online using US dollars, however, if you sell in a currency less well known, even Canadian dollars, you will miss out on many international sales due to customer apprehension.

Shipping

• Provide shipping costs ASAP!

Provide clear shipping costs, as soon as possible.  If you make it tough for your customers to determine shipping costs, you risk losing them before they even try to checkout.

• Provide fair shipping prices

Make sure that you are providing the best shipping prices possible.  If you aren’t comparable to your competitors you will lose sales… and lots of them!

Warning: If you need to pad your shipping costs, you’re pricing your products or services wrong.  I’ve personally witnessed companies lose hundreds of sales because of overpriced shipping costs.  When you charge too much for shipping, you insult your customers.  It’s as simple as that.

• Free shipping incentives

Know your profit margins inside-out, upside-down and backwards.  Now find a way to offer free shipping incentives to your customers.  Whether that’s at $50, $100, $200 in sales or higher, offer it… even if only 1 in 10 times it results in a customer purchasing something additional, if you sell $1M a year, you’ve just added a cool crisp $100K of revenue on top of that!  Alternately, ignore this tip and throw three brand new vehicles out your window… because well… that’s what you’ll be leaving on the sidelines (but call me first, so I can pick up those cars that you toss out the window, thanks!).

Brokerage Fees and Customs

• Do your research related to both brokerage fees and customs

If there are one or two simple steps you can do to reduce the potential tax and customs burden on your customers; then do them.  You will create hundreds of loyal customers for life if you can avoid additional fees and beat out other would-be competitors.  For example, shipping via UPS from US to Canada results in a $10+ brokerage fee (and most times it’s $29+), if you ship the same product via USPS, 95%+ of the time you’ll avoid paying this hefty surcharge and their fees are much more reasonable.  This all boils down to research.  Take your time and do it, this could give you a significant advantage over your competitors.

Taxation 

• Make sure that your shopping cart is legal

Don’t charge tax on the products and services that you sell if you’re not legally entitled and/or obligated to do so.  Not only can this provide you with a significant benefit over competitors, especially on large ticket items, but it could also prevent costly fines as a result of a post-financial-audit that reveals illegal tax practices.  Believe me; the benefits outweigh the potential costs in this situation.  If done wrong, not only will you have to remit all tax dollars for the last 7 years, but you’ll also have to pay interest and fines in addition.  For more details, visit the Government of Canada’s Business Network, the Internal Revenue Service, or if your company is in another country, visit your government’s online resources.

Adding value

• Rate and comment on  your products and services

When a visitor is trying to decide on the best product to fit their needs, ratings and customer reviews often times helps seal the deal.  The majority of lost sales is a result of indecision; give your customers the tools that they need to decide immediately.  If a customer is undecided and walks away, you risk losing that sale to a competitor if they change their mind later.

• Collect testimonials

Collect testimonials.  When customers talk about how valuable a product or service of yours was, it helps other potential customers to visualize the potential benefits that they will receive.  Often times, this takes down the last decision barriers at the moment when the customer is trying to decide whether to buy or to walk.

Cross-sell

• Complimentary products and services

When a visitor is viewing a product or service on your site, make sure that the most popular complimentary products or services are also showcased.  Most large sites do this nowadays and for good reasons, when cross-selling is done right it can easily increase your online revenue by 20% or higher with very little additional expense.

• Extended warranties

Depending on if it makes sense for your business, consider offering extended warranties on your products or services.  Not only can this result in additional sales as a result of increased customer trust and loyalty, but it can also be a revenue stream on its own when done right.

Up-sell

• Recommendations

Based upon a customer’s historical and/or current items in their cart, it’s valuable to provide recommended products and services that may be of interest or compliment their purchase.  This is an easy way to offer valuable advice to your customers while generating additional sales for your business at the same time.

• Others also bought

Showing products that other customers purchased at the same time is an easy way to generate additional sales and provide tremendous value to your customers.  Consider a real estate investor purchasing his/her latest book on multiplex investing, he/she may also benefit from a real estate tax law book.  This feature is also infinitely useful on websites that are social media integrated, when a customer sees that his family, friends or peers have purchased a product; they will be more inclined to purchase it as well.

• Spend only $10  more to qualify for free shipping

Simply put, everyone loves feeling appreciated.  By offering free shipping to your customers who make a larger purchase in your products and services, it immediately creates a sense of appreciation and helps to increase customer loyalty.  Companies that go the extra mile build highly loyal customers.  This is one of the key tools that have helped propel Amazon.com to the ecommerce giant of the Internet that it is today!  It’s estimated that their free shipping incentives have resulted in doubling the speed at which their business grows consistently over the last several years!

Communicate

• Email

If you offer email support, ensure that your processes are setup optimally so that all inquiries are responded to within the first 24 hours.  You won’t believe what a difference this can impact your bottom line!  Some companies have reported to me doubling their sales once they implemented this policy!

•  Newsletters

Deliver newsletters regularly.  If you keep your company in your customers’ minds, they are 300%+ more likely to consider your products and services again when the time comes to buy something you have to offer.

• Social media

No magic here, social media is an extension to traditional marketing.  Why the buzz word “social media” if it’s just marketing?  Cause it’s done differently.  Time to start learning now, if you’re not ready to get on the bandwagon then you’re only losing out.  Learn more about social media marketing

• Loyalty memberships

While this only works for certain businesses, it can do wonders for loyalty.  Think about it, how many times have you heard your colleagues say “I only buy my gas, books, groceries, etc. at [Insert store name here] because I collect points”.  Simply put, when done right, this approach has the potential to secure loyalty on it’s own.

While I’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg, I hope that I’ve given you a lot to think about.  It’s vital that you take the time to consider your long term vision, put together a plan and ensure that you keep your eye on your competitors.  There’s no time for rest if you’re going to become or maintain your prestigious rank as an industry leader, start today!  When ecommerce is done right, it will take your business to levels that you never could have imagined.  There are thousands of success stories out there already, but yours could be next!  All that you have to do is brainstorm a plan, document your next steps and hold yourself accountable.  One step at a time, you will get there.

–

Brent Mondoux
CEO, N-VisionIT Interactive
brent@betterwebsites.ca
Ottawa web design

I’ve witnessed hundreds of companies massaging this expression to fit whatever message they’re trying to convey.  The term is used so frequently because it creates a sense of authenticity for whatever words follow.  The fact of the matter however is that the words itself means very little without further explanation.

According to Dictionary.com, content is something that is to be expressed through some medium, as speech, writing, or any of various arts”.  Well if content is king then does that mean that anything communicated automatically becomes preeminent in its class… both authoritative and influential?  Of course not!  So then, when is content king?  When it is communicated efficiently, leveraging the appropriate formats, to maximize audience engagement!  Simply put, it has to be earned!

How does content earn the prestigious rank whereby it can truly be classified as king?  There are a number of criteria which must be met.  Content must be:

• Communicated efficiently

I know you want to tell everyone how awesome you are and include that 1,000-word bio, but nobody is going to read it!  A bio should be no more than 300 words and include bullet points for accomplishments if they are relevant (e.g. degrees, awards, etc.)

• Easy to use

It’s vital that your content is organized so that it’s easy for your visitors to find the information they are seeking.  If they can’t find it within a few seconds, there’s a significant chance they’ll leave your site and move onto your competitors.

• Visual appealing

No matter what anyone tells you, first impressions are alive now more than ever.  Because there are so many resources available online, just like yourself, visitors will open up the first 4-5 websites and narrow it down to 1-2 potential companies that they will do business with in the first 60 seconds.  If your site is not visually appealing and matching the branding of your company, you’ve likely already lost the sale before you even had the chance to make the pitch!

• Interesting

It’s absolutely critical to communicate your message by leveraging multiple formats.  A careful mixture of text, photos and video will help keep your audience engaged.  Remember the old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words?  Well… a video is worth a thousand pictures.  YouTube has become one of the most powerful marketing channels online today!  The facts are staggering!  800 million users, 4 billion page views a day, 3 billion hours of video watched a month with an average viewing session being 15 minutes!  Now that’s engagement! (reference: Time Magazine).  I know… I know… it takes time to get great photos and video is outside of your comfort zone… if you want to take your business to the next level, suck it up Princess!  It always amazes me how many business owners have taken so many risks to date to get to where they are but still find boundaries that they’re not comfortable to overcome.  You’re simply limiting the potential of your own success.

• Niche-sites Require User Content Prior to Launch

How many times have you visited a website with an intended purpose that resembles a barren desert?  Dating sites without profiles, business directories without companies, classified ads sites without listings, forum sites without users, and the list goes on!  Creating user-generated content that fulfills the goals of a targeted niche prior to launch is absolutely critical.  If you are building a site that’s intended to compete in a specific industry, for heaven’s sakes, take the time to ensure that there is valuable content that will actually provide an inkling of incentive for visitors arriving at your site to sign up and stick around!  Ever heard the saying “If you build it, they will come”?  It’s false… that only works if individuals have no other option and believe me, with the Internet there’s always another option.  Don’t launch until you’ve tackled this task or you’ll be wasting your marketing dollars.

Many companies make their websites text-heavy in an attempt to communicate every little detail about their products and services, at the expense of providing their visitors with an experience that is overwhelming, lacks engagement and counter-productive to the goal of increasing interest and closing more deals.

Your website is the most powerful salesperson on your team.  It has the potential to bring in thousands of leads that are interested in your products and services.  If you don’t take the time to prepare quality, credible content that is both informative and interesting, you’ve lost 4 out of 5 leads before they even really gave your company any consideration.

Doubt the accuracy of my claim?  It’s time to take a look at your web statistics and assess the drop-offs on each page.  I use Google Analytics‘ Visitors Flow feature, if you don’t have any useful stats you should have your web professional set this up for you today!  You’ll quickly find out which page(s) your website visitors start on, navigate through and finally when they abandon your site.  It’s an important tool to measure the effectiveness of your marketing content and to hold your site accountable for its primary responsibility of generating more leads.

–

Brent Mondoux
CEO, N-VisionIT Interactive
brent@betterwebsites.ca

Ottawa web design

This week I thought I’d put together a few tips for users who are trying to learn to effectively use Twitter in order to engage an audience and create new connections.

The most common reason that Twitter isn’t working for many companies is because they simply haven’t taken the time to learn how to use it effectively.

I’ve put together a brief list of the best tips that will help get you on your way to successfully leveraging the power of Twitter in your social media marketing efforts.  What’re you waiting for?  Let’s get started and start creating some real buzz around your brand!

Here are the tips:

1. Be clear

Take the time to ensure that the messages you deliver to your audience are clear.  There’s nothing worse than a tweet that your users can’t understand.  If you’re tough to understand, imagine what they think doing business with you is like.

2. Use keywords

Make sure that you use keywords relevant to your industry so that your potential customers can find you when they’re searching for related tweets.  (e.g. if you’re in the business of selling freshly roasted, high quality coffee; take the time to ensure that the appropriate keywords are included within your tweets).

3. Only use 120 characters

It is vital to deliver your message in 120 characters or less so that it’s easy for others to retweet or reply to your tweets.

4. Shorten your links

Because you only have 140 characters to work with (but your goal should be 120), shortening your links is absolutely critical to ensure that you can meet this goal.  Equally important, many of the URL shortening services (e.g. bit.ly) provide you with valuable statistics that can help you to measure how engaged your audience is by knowing how many times each of the links you posted was clicked.

5. Schedule your tweets

Scheduling your tweets has two benefits.  It can help you to ensure that your messages are sent out when most individuals are online and it helps spread them out to keep users engaged all day.

6. Limit your hashtags

Be careful when using hashtags.  Make sure that they’re relevant to your topic and don’t include too many in a tweet.  My recommendation is 2 or less hashtags per tweet.

7. Add your thoughts to retweets

When you retweet, add a brief comment whenever possible.  It provides context and value to your followers.

8. Control your retweets

If you retweet too frequently you overload your followers and risk being unfollowed.  Choose your retweets wisely.

9. Ask someone how they’re doing, don’t always broadcast

You create connections by engaging with your readers, not by constantly preaching.  Don’t treat Twitter as a traditional form of marketing or you’ll find yourself with little to no success.

10. Ask questions

When you ask questions, you’ll be engaging your followers and learning more about them.  Choose your questions wisely because it can result in answers that reveal to you opportunities where your products and services can be valuable to your target audiences.

11. Be careful of your integration apps

While using 3^rd party apps to automate and simplify your social media efforts may seem like a fantastic idea, many of these 3^rd party apps don’t deliver your message very well (e.g. “I posted a picture fb.me/NoContextAtAll”).

12. Always acknowledge and respond in a timely fashion to @replies to you.

Whether your followers engage you, for positive or negative reasons, @reply to them and show them and your other followers that you’re listening and care about your audience.  By being active you encourage other followers to engage as well.

Well there you have it!  If you incorporate these twelve tips into your daily social media marketing on Twitter you’ll start to reap the rewards of growing engagement from your users and financial is only one of them!  Expect to learn more about your customers, their needs and how you can better help them.  Twitter will help you to look at your business from your customers’ perspective and that alone will bring your business to a whole new level!

–

Brent Mondoux
CEO, N-VisionIT Interactive
brent@betterwebsites.ca

Ottawa web design

All the time people ask me how I get so much done each and every day.  There are a lot of weapons in my arsenal that you’ll learn about if you follow my blog, this is most definitely one of them.  I call it my “super-secret, no bullsh*t priority management approach” but you can call it the “common-sense well thought out approach” if you wish… I just think my naming choice sounds cooler.

Every week or two I intend to reveal another one of my weapons used to battle the obstacle-laden horizon of productivity.  If you want to take your business to the next level, with no cost other than the time you take to learn from and implement the strategies that I’ve honed over the last decade and a half, you too will become a powerhouse to be reckoned with in your own respective industry.  After all, what do you have to lose?  More importantly, what do you have to gain?

Over the last several months I’ve been mentoring more and more people including my very own executive and project management teams and even clients on a number of topics related to achieving and excelling in business success and balance.  Today I’m going to talk about one of the areas that I’ve witnessed dramatic positive results due to our team efforts on prioritization.

The reason that prioritization is such a challenging one to handle for most people is that they have too many obligations on their plate.  Even once they’ve narrowed down their “to dos” to the highest of priorities, they are still inundated with a sense of being overwhelmed.

How does one get over these feelings and learn not to sweat the small stuff?  After all, we all know that it’s counter-productive to worry, emotions quite simply don’t get the job done and negatively impacts our own sense of well-being.  Sounds like a difficult challenge isn’t it?  But it isn’t!  I’m going to reveal to you an approach that I designed 15 years ago and have tweaked countless times since.  I urge you to give this approach a try; everyone that has to date has showered me with praise and thanks, and a free coffee from time to time.

At the beginning of the week do these steps:

1. Create a “To Do List” (view Brent’s worksheet) (download blank worksheet)

Create a “to do list” with the tasks that you still have on your plate from last week’s to do list.

Categorize them by importance:

• Must do ASAP

• Important to do ASAP

• Want to do ASAP

Please note: My template supports managing the priorities of others as well.  This is often critical when managing a company, and extremely useful when mentoring others on priority management so I’ve left this in my template.  For those who do not manage others, just disregard this section, but for those who do, make sure you use it for the employees who report to you as well!

2. Prioritize the “To Do List”

Now that you’ve categorized the importance, take the time to sort them, most important first, least important last.

If there is one or more tasks that you are uncertain the duration that it will take to complete, make sure you prioritize any tasks that will take less than 15 minutes and do them first, so long as they’re within the same prioritization (e.g. multiple tasks categorized as “must do ASAP”).  An obvious exception is that an emergency task will precede all others.

Every working day do these steps:

1. On your “to do list”, scratch off any tasks that are completed from the day prior, if applicable.

2. Create a new “today list” (view Brent’s worksheet) (view blank worksheet)

Now, from your “to do list”, choose the tasks that you will perform today and create a new “today list”.  Now, put away the “to do list” and focus.

Important: Don’t worry about the things you can’t do today, instead focus on ensuring that the tasks you’ve put on your today list get done, respecting the priorities that you’ve set from most to least important.  Don’t sweat the small stuff, just go!

As you complete a task, scratch it off of your “today list” and smile knowing that tomorrow you will also scratch it off your “to do list” and move onto the next.

Throughout the day, write down any distractions that took you away from your priorities on your “today list”.  Don’t throw out each “today list”, you’ll need it for the end of the week.

At the end of the week do these steps:

1. Review your week

This is the most important step, and the one that most individuals skip.  Unfortunately, it’s also the most important.  It’s time to reflect on what you’ve accomplished this week and to review the distractions that are hindering you from performing even better.  If there are any distractions that were unnecessary or could be delegated to somebody else, make sure that you create a new task on next week’s “to do list” that will put steps into place that ensure that these distractions do not recur.

2. Prepare for next week

Ensure that your “to do list” is up to date with any completed items scratched off and any new items added to the list.

Increment the number beside each task so that it shows how many weeks an item has been on your priority list, this will help you to indicate any items that you have been letting stay on your priority list too long – this could be for a number of reasons (e.g. wasn’t prioritized correctly to begin with, missing key requirements to perform task, procrastination, etc.).

Whatever it is, it’ll either reveal a different task that needs to be added to your “to do list” or possibly even reveal a weakness of yours that you need to focus on improving.

Prioritization is a critical element of planning and if done right it can have a dramatic positive impact on you, your business and the colleagues that work with you.  Treat the importance of prioritization with the respect it deserves and in turn it’ll return massive rewards.  You’ll not only be less stressed each and every day, your focus and productivity will skyrocket!

Well, you have a choice now.  What are you going to do?  Are you going to reduce your stress and increase your productivity or accept the status quo?  The rest of your story is yet to be written…

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Brent Mondoux
CEO, N-VisionIT Interactive
brent@betterwebsites.ca

Ottawa web design

 

Why is the entire picture important?  Why consider my weaknesses?

Simple!  If you consider both your strengths and your weaknesses, it’ll increase your awareness of where you stand in the market.  It will help you to assess and understand your key selling points but it’ll also reveal your key weaknesses that are costing you many potential customers to your competitors.

Obviously increasing and focusing on your strengths will help you to generate new business and additional revenues.  Conversely, by focusing on eliminating your weaknesses can result in the same benefits of increased growth, often times even more significant than focusing on the strengths.

How can eliminating weaknesses provide a better return on investment?

By eliminating some of your weaknesses, you are systematically eliminating many of the key advantages that your competitors have over you.  Furthermore by scratching a weakness off the list and re-writing it as a strength, you are gaining twice the benefit!  The majority of times a customer’s final decision boils down to the minor differences between you and your competitors, often times it’s these strengths and weaknesses that impact this final decision.  Think about it… if you earn 15% more sales in the next year, how much more positive momentum would that bring to your business?  Enough said…

What if it’s infeasible to eliminate a weakness?

Unfortunately the reality is that occasionally it will be infeasible to eliminate a weakness at this time.  What you should do is take note of these weaknesses and then identify the challenges that prevent you from overcoming them at this time (e.g. financial, educational, etc.).  Guess what?  You’ve now got a game plan to execute in order to systematically move towards eliminating it.  Where there’s a will, there’s a way.  Insert cliché here, whichever one you need to motivate yourself.  The point is that you won’t eliminate all weaknesses in one fell swoop and if you aren’t willing to accept this reality then you’re accepting the status quo and helping your competitors to maintain an edge on you.  Read that last statement again, it should be more offensive than a long string of %&$!!@ words.

How often should I do this?

Most companies do this once a year (if at all).  I strongly recommend making this a quarterly exercise.  I also urge you to do this exercise outside of your work setting.  When at work, it’s easy to get distracted and interrupted.  Take a day off with key staff and perform this exercise during a company retreat.  Doubt this will impact the results of the exercise by much?  If you’re that pig-headed, try doing this two months in a row, once in your office and once during a retreat.  The difference in the quality and creativity of the results will be so significant that you’ll never doubt me again.

I’ve helped hundreds of companies with their strategic planning and I’ve created a lot of strong and meaningful relationships as a result.  My customers know that their success is my highest priority and that when push comes to shove I’ll tell them the straight dope, even if they don’t want to hear it.  It’s important to be faced with reality.  Sometimes we’re too close to our own businesses and can’t see or won’t admit our weaknesses.  Here’s a revelation, you aren’t helping yourself… you’re harming yourself.  If any of this blog offends you, that’s okay, that means it was a much needed dose of medicine and you’re on your way to a new level of health that you’ve never experienced; one that’s awakened a sense that’s been dormant within you for years, awareness.

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Brent Mondoux
CEO, N-VisionIT Interactive
brent@betterwebsites.ca

Ottawa web design