Top 5 ways of growing a business using a blog

There are five top ways of growing a business by using a blog, according to one of our members. Stephen Page of Harrington Family Lawyers and author of the Australian Divorce Blog and the Australian Gay and Lesbian Law Blog said those ways were:


1. Create a blog that has a name related to your field of expertise.

For example, if you know about widgets, you might call your blog Simply Widgets.

2. Post items on the blog regularly.

There need to be regular blogposts. Don't let the blog go stale- no one will look at it.

3. Show your expertise in your field by the content of your blogs.

Stephen authors two different blogs: one focussed on divorce and family law, and the other on a different market- those of LGBTI people. The contents of one do not necessarily refelct the contents of the other, given their separate market positions. What is written must reflect your expertise and reputation. Write something knowledgable and you will appear knowledgable. Write something trashy, and you will probably attract clients you don't want.
 

4. Google remembers


Your reputation may be lost very easily from a blogpost. Assume that everything that you write will be viewed forever: all your typos, grammatical mistakes, or worse, any unprofessional content. Google and other search engines will scoop it up and serve it to any prospective customer or employer.

5. Link your blog to your other online presence

A blog is not the be all and end all of an online presence. Work out what works for you. When you do, makes them all work together. Stephen uses Linkedin and Twitter, in combination with the blogs to put out a more powerful message.

5 ways to build a business

There are 5 ways to build a business, according to one of our members. Rob Caughey of Action Coach business coaching, recently spoke about those five ways, which he emphasised all business owners need to know, and remain focussed on if they are to succeed in business. Rob also mentioned that by focusing on all of the 5 ways and not just one or two, can lead to exponential profit in the business.

1. Leads

Focusing on leads or new business helps grow the business as a whole. Many businesses focus on new business.

2. Conversion Rate

As Rob showed, by increasing the conversion rate of new leads will directly lead to a large increase in profit.

3. Number of transactions

It is one thing to have an increase in the number of customers who have converted form leads, it is another to engage at a greater level with each and every customer. The classic example that Rob talked about came from McDonald's: "would you like fries with that?"; which in enough sales led to an increase in sales (and profits) for McDonald's.

4. Average Sale

By focusing on the average sale will enable the business owner to focus on increasing the amount of that average sale.

5. Margins

Sales revenue is not enough. There also needs to be a focus on the profit margin, including increasing it by reducing costs.

This week's speakers

This Wednesday's speakers are:

• Jason Priddle of Breeze Homeloans
• Gino Saggiomo of Rothgard Financial Partners

Last week's speakers

Last week's speakers were Derek Miles, our Director, of Tax and Accounting Advisors, and Stephen Page, our Recorder (Treasurer) of Harrington Family Lawyers.

This week's speakers

This week's speakers are:

• Derek Miles, accountant of Tax and Accounting Advisors.
• Stephen Page, family lawyer, of Harrington Family Lawyers.

Our meeting:

• Paddington Worker's Centre, corner Given and Latrobe Terraces, Paddington
• Wednesday 3 June 2009, 7.00 for 7.15am
• Visitors welcome- contact Jason Bragger of Dolfinwise: (07) 3221 3066

Last week's speakers

Last week's speakers were Jason Bragger, financial planner from Dolfinwise, and Kim Matheson from Alpha Office Furniture.

Next week's speakers

The speakers this Wednesday are:

• Jason Bragger, Financial Planner of Dolfinwise
• Kim Matheson of Alpha Office Furniture

Our speakers last week

Our speakers last Wednesday were:

• Nikki Loxley of Empra - event marketing, public relations and advertising. Nikki spoke about setting up websites, their purpose and design
• Mark Bostock of Peter G. Williams and Associates Solicitors. Mark spoke about home purchase contracts, especially issues to do with flood searches, and it being especially unwise to self-act on a purchase.

Speakers for next week: 20/5/09

Our speakers for our meeting on 20 May are Nikki Loxley and Mark Bostock.

Nikki is from Empra - which stands for Events Management, Public Relations and Advertising.

Mark Bostock is from Peter G. Williams and Associates, solicitors.

Our speakers today

Our speakers today were:

• Gino Saggiomo from Rothgard Financial Partners. Gino talked about business insurance and key person insurance.
• Stewart Jones from Betta Computers. Stewart talked about backup systems and email archiving.
• Rose Webb, from Optus Business Direct, and more importantly our Leads Club Chapter Consultant. Rose talked about how to get and keep getting leads.

Thank you to all our speakers

This week

Our other speaker (other than Stewart Jones) this Wednesday is the much travelled Gino Saggiomo from Rothgard Financial Partners.

Welcome back, Gino!

This week's speaker

This week's speaker is Stewart Jones from Betta Computers: http://www.bettacomputers.com.au/