Business Books & Resources I Love

It's funny - I know many people think that running an online business is a simple affair. Create a product or service, design the site, get someone to do the techy stuff, plan a launch day and switch the site on. After the initial fanfare, watch the orders roll in, field endless media calls and try to keep everything up-to-date. Heck, and working from home....easy life!

Sit back and relax - it's an online business!

Umm...no.

The day you switch your site to "live" is the day your education begins. Here is a list of some things you will need to become an expert in:

• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
• Website optimisation
• Social media marketing
• Email marketing
• Content creation (written, graphic, audio and video)
• Analytics
• Sales funnels
• Selling
• Customer service
• Manufacturing/product or service creation
• Supply chains
• Market conditions
• PR
• Networking
• Time and stress management
• ......and the list goes on.

Recently I've been talking to other people about where they find their most useful information; books, webinar series, online resources etc.

So here's my personal Top Ten Business Books and Resources

1. The Purple Cow by Seth Godin - how to create a unique product or service
2. 22 Michaels - business blog of Michael Fox, co-founder of Shoes of Prey. Start in 2009 and work up. Fascinating.
3. Marie Forleo's free videos and B School - her kick ass online business course. 
4. Better, Stronger, Faster by Brad Rosser - Simple, actionable methods to launch, build and exit.
5. To Sell is Human by Daniel H. Pink - the art and science of selling, debunking a few myths!
6. Email Marketing Blueprint by Steve Scott - how to create email relationships than convert.
7. Derek Halpern's Social Triggers website, videos and emails - marketing guru (shouts alot!)
8. Australian Businesswomen's Network - excellent webinars and interviews. 
9. Quicksprout - Neil Patel's blog. From SEO, website optimisation, data analysis and beyond, he's succeeded. Great articles and How Tos.
10. The 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris - slightly obvious choice but it holds some great ideas and gives you permission to be a bit nuts.

Naturally, this list could go on....I discover so many wonderful, inspiring and informative people , books and resources on a regular basis. But, whether you are currently in business or thinking about it, this Top Ten will set you up nicely. Make it happen!

If there is another book, blog or resource you think I'd love, or influenced you positively, tell me in the comments box below.

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I Gave My Baby a Facelift

This is not a headline from the latest Kardashian saga.....(though, with that vacuous lot, nothing would surprise me!)

No. This week I treated my 'other baby', my precious website, to a much needed nip and tuck.

Last year my developers and I spend months designing and engineering the My Bespoke Chair website. For regular readers, you will know what a mammoth task that was. A path less trodden; where can you buy a mass-customisation site 'out of the box'? Nowhere. Templates....no chance. My ideas, thoughts and instructions were painstakingly translated into code by 2 clever people.

But, as with anything, with age come wrinkles, sagging bits and areas that just aren't up to the job anymore. To keep my site youthful, useful and alive I needed to research how the site was being used, what could be improved and how to improve it.

When I built the site back in 2012, it was all theory and ideas. I had no actual knowledge of running an online business. I did the best with what I knew. I learnt from the information at my disposal and I executed things by trail and error.

Most people would agree that you continue to learn by trail and error; I have learnt some interesting and valuable stuff through making mistakes in the last 12 months. Again, regular readers will know that I read, listen and network a lot. I read and learn and write notes about everything I don't know. Which, again, is a lot.

One thing I began to realise was that the home page was not working efficiently. In November 2012, it looked attractive, creative and intriguing. Homespun meets C21st e-commerce. I loved it - as did many people, given how much great press and attention the business was receiving.

Except, the layout was messy, the colours too many, the CTA (call to action) a little lost and it wasn't fully optimised to convert visitors into paying clients.

So I decided to redesign it. To give it a facelift. I left the other pages alone because a) they function well and look good. The actual design-you-own chair pages work like a super-charged dream! b) it was too expensive to redesign each website page.

The home-page is crucial. What you do here decides whether a person stays or leaves. Whether they trust and like you/your company/brand. Whether you sell what they are looking to buy.

This is some of what I changed on the home-page and why:

• All the CTA buttons are one colour. For me that's hot pink. Your eye is always drawn to block colours and on a website, we instinctively search for the action button. Start or Buy or Go or Submit etc.
• You can now start designing your chair or buy a ready-made one from the home page. No need to click through to another page. Don't make people work too hard. One click less is one click closer to conversion.
• Again, in the new side-bar boxes, you can see content from the Why Us and Testimonials pages. People can click through to read more, but they don't have to. Credibility is established on the home-page.
• Added a horizontal image carousel to showcase the chairs and value propositions (free delivery, free design service etc) Use the prime real estate on your site to sell what you do, your value propositions, CTA, newsletter sign ups etc. The prime real estate refers to the part of the page that people see on their screens without having to scroll down. It differs for all screen and device sizes, but you can estimate. 

I'm delighted with how it looks, works and feels.

Contemporary and clear, yet it retains a creative feel. The My Bespoke Chair character remains fully recognisable - just with a smoother complexion and rejuvenated smile!

The bandages are off, so do pop over for a visit www.mybespokechair.com!



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