Coffee to the rescue

This week we’ve been struck by the crud...again. WIth 2 kids in preschool, we’re bound to catch any virus that’s out there. And we do. I can take the coughing in my face and the wiping of runny noses, but my patience is truly tested by our little ones’ extreme crankiness and sleepless nights. Sometimes I just have to laugh at the insanity when I’m up at 2 am trying to get one of them back to sleep, while I can hear the other start up again. What a tag team they make. Its like they’re conspiring against us.

Despite the sleep deprivation and the fact that I am now also sick (thanks to the coughing in my face), I still have to get up and go about my day; work, meetings, childcare.

The thing that pulls me through is coffee.

Honestly, I don’t love the taste of coffee. I didn’t really drink it until I moved to Seattle. Well, it was hard to avoid in a city that has a coffee shop every 50 feet. I do love the smell which is probably what drew me to it. But mostly, I love the routine of making a pot of coffee, and fixing my cup just the way I like it.

There’s something about having a cup of coffee in front of me that helps me focus. Even before that first sip, just the ritual of sitting down with a coffee in front of me, helps me plan my day, prioritize what I have to get done, and set to work. However tired I am, however much I have on my plate for that day, I know I can get through it because at least I’ve got my coffee.

And its not just me. I can’t even have a conversation with Mark in the morning until I see that he’s got his coffee in hand. It took me at least 10 years of being married to him before I figured that one out.

So, we take our coffee ritual seriously here.

Before kids, Mark and I took a trip to Italy. (Little did we know that would be our last hurrah just the two of us.) One of our stops was a 3 day stay at an agriturismo. We slept in the carriage house of a thousand year old castle in the middle of Tuscany. Yes, you’re right-- it can’t get any better than that. We happened to be stranded there at that castle, seeing we hadn’t thought to rent a car (we arrived at the castle mostly by luck and a very expensive cab ride). So, we spent our days lazily wandering through vineyards and olive groves, playing with the family dog who we named “Paulo”, communing with the cattle that we would later eat that night sitting at the family’s dinner table. We also learned about espresso.

Our room was equipped with cornflakes, homemade biscotti, a hot plate and an espresso maker--the beautiful silver retro kind you put on the burner. We had our first lesson how to make espresso from the young Italian woman who let us in. In our feeble attempts at conversing in half Italian/half Spanish/half English, we learned how to craft a brew of true Italian espresso.

If the ritual of making coffee is good, making espresso is even better. It seems the more elaborate the ritual, the more meditative and focused the act becomes. Coffee is our routine, espresso is Special.

So, when the kids are driving us crazy, work is busy, creativity needs to be evoked, or we need that special focus in our cluttered mind---its coffee to the rescue.

Blogging from the inside out

When I started blogging over a year ago, I was a novice. I was finding my way in the blogging world. I wasn’t sure what to write, but I knew I wanted to tell our story of running our business, having a family, and trying to make it all work together somehow.

I guess I’m still trying to find my way as a “blogger”. Lately, I feel I’ve lost something in trying to write articles and blogs that are more focused on Business, and less focused on our internal process. I’m no expert, but I fear I may have come across that way in my effort to be prolific about running a business.

Maybe I’ve been a bit misguided to believe that in order for people to want to read my blog (so far, not so much), I need to be an expert on a topic (I’m not) and write information that others will hopefully find useful and relevant (Geez, who knows). And, the business of trying, maybe too hard, to sound informative, has got me hating my new writer voice. Blogging has lost its magic for me personally. So, its not really working out for me, this blogging business. What am I missing?

For me, what’s missing is the account of our personal experience. That’s how this blog got started and I think I was closer to being on track in the beginning. Its our experience that’s compelling. Anybody in the web/tech/marketing business and their brother can write about why its so important to have a beautiful website. But running a family business is a more interesting story. Running a family business has all the stuff sitcoms are made of. We may not be quite so witty, or have musical numbers, but we can be entertaining in our own way. Who can’t relate with being stressed about money or deadlines, feeling angry at STUPID accounting software or annoyed that the kids are too loud to take a call just then? We try to cover up the things that make us human (mistakes, debt, insecurity, farts/burps/BO, etc), but really its the experience of being human that’s so entertaining.

So, today, as I plug in my iPod to drown out the sound of Mark and our 3 year old dancing to “Take On Me” upstairs, I sit down at our cluttered desk that we share, I am turning over a new blogging leaf. Blogging from the inside out. This blog is about our experience as a family, running a business, raising 2 daughters in this crazy world, staying happily married, doing it our way, making compromises along the way, but trying to never loose our way.

Entrepreneurism is about creating, not just going into business

Entrepreneurism is more about creating something than it is “going into business”. Its about having an idea and making it happen.

Despite the variety of businesses represented among the self-employed, a common thread among entrepreneurs is the ability to create solutions to common problems. Entrepreneurs want to find meaning in what they do and create. And most importantly, entrepreneurs possess tenacity.

Bizango’s content management system was created out of a vision to make something better. One of Mark’s (Bizango’s creative director and visionary/developer of the Easy Update Tools) many passions is his focus on “usability” (truthfully, he’s a fanatic on the subject). It was Mark’s goal to create a CMS that was intuitive, especially to non-technical people, and required little if any training. Our business was essentially born out of this desire to create a simple, intuitive, elegant tool that would improve the lives of small business owners.

Going into business for yourself is almost never about the money. Make no mistake, money matters--we couldn’t be in business without some profit. But the bottom line is more than the dollars and cents. Its about pride and satisfaction in creating something that will make other peoples’ lives better, easier, or more beautiful.

Rules to writing copy for the web

Written content for your website needs to inspire your potential customers to contact you. Does yours? There is a technique to writing web copy that can help you overcome barriers to connecting with your potential customers.

According to web usability expert Jakob Nielsen, users will only read about 20% of the words on a web page. So, how do you sell to people who may only spend a minute or so, if you’re lucky, reading your website?

Here are 5 rules to consider when writing for the web:

Use small words and short paragraphs. Recognize that people are in a hurry and want information that is easy to read and understand. They don't want to be forced into thinking. People aren't impressed with big words--they get annoyed and move on.
Use bulleted lists and highlighted key words. Peoples’ eyes are easily drawn to bulleted lists and highlighted words and they are quickly scannable.
Start with the most important. Your most important message should come first. Your readers may loose interest and never finish reading the rest of the page and then you’ve lost them.
Speak clearly. Write how you would say it. If you’re trying too hard to explain something, you may be trying too hard. Think simple and direct. To be honest, you should assume your audience is less intelligent ( I mean no offense) and speak to that level. You're not trying to win awards for literary fiction here, you're trying to sell.
Be compelling. This is probably the most challenging. You need to spark the interest of your reader, and then keep them hooked. If what you’re writing isn’t interesting, then go back and find a way that is. The whole point of writing is to get your audience to keep reading and, in this case, to ultimately contact you.

The message you convey on your website should be true to your personality and values. Your message should be clear and consistent throughout your site. It should also tell a story that will motivate your customers to contact you. If you believe that your product is special, then tell us why! Pretty pictures sure do help, but well thought words and a compelling story will sell too.

You don’t have to be a “writer” to write your web copy. Understanding some techniques for writing web copy can help you overcome the challenge of writing for the web, and help you connect with your potential customers.

What are you doing to market your website?

A beautiful website is essential. But once you’ve got that, then what?

It would be great “if you build it, then they will come” applied to your website. But honestly, it takes work to market that beautiful website. Once your site is live, you can't just sit back and watch business flow in.

According to a recent study conducted by Webvisable and Nielsen, small businesses spend less than 10% of their marketing budget online. Interestingly, business owners are often frustrated that they are not being found online. So, is there a connection here? If you’re frustrated that prospective clients aren’t finding your website, first ask yourself; what are you doing to market your website?

To start

Announce your site to friends, family, clients, and business contacts. Keep in touch with email newletters. Include a link to your site with your email signature, pass out business cards, reward referrals, offer promotions on your site.

Consider your search engine optimization

Working on optimizing your site for the web, so that Google recognizes it and hopefully ranks it high, is a hot topic and one that a lot of business are spending a lot of time and money to do. Here are some basic principals of SEO:

Keywords--Keywords are search terms (words and phrases, such as “Seattle green remodel”) that prospective customers type into Google. Use keywords especially in your headers, in the first paragraph of your site, and embedded in your meta tags. Google offers a free tool to help you choose your keywords https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal.

Incoming links--This is probably the hardest, but most valuable, part of improving your SEO. Essentially, getting other websites to link to yours, especially if they are relevant to your industry and link to you using your keywords, will help you rank higher in Google searches.

Frequent site updates--Google rewards sites (by ranking them higher) that update their website frequently. Having a content management system that is easy to use will encourage frequent site updates.

Using social media

Businesses are increasingly using social media to promote their business. But, a word about marketing using social media: the return on investment (and its usually an investment of time) is slow and happens over time with constant attention.

Create a profile for your business on social or business media platforms such as facebook, or LinkedIn help people find you and direct visitors to your website.

Blogging, and being an active participant and commenter on other, industry-relevant blogs will help people find your site over time.

Writing articles and content for online media sites such as Digg, and Examiner can help direct traffic to your site also.

Other considerations

Google Adword ads, working with a PR or marketing agency, and traditional marketing methods such as paid ads in publications, radio/tv ads, and direct mail may have a place in your marketing strategy depending on your budget.

Your website is an essential part of your businesses’ online presence. Its important to have a marketing strategy for your website--your website will work for you, if you work for it.