There are thousands of people in a transitional period, where they are living in alternative accommodation or in tents or caravans and this could take several years to rectify.

Ken in his post “Finding a builder to repair flood damage” lists pointers for those who have suffered from flood damage.

The SEO industry is incredibly rewarding, particularly when clients see their website results outperform previous months or years records.  Your job is to increase qualified traffic to websites which in turn helps increase sales, leads and sign-ups.  No matter what the conversion requirement is, qualified traffic is required to achieve that.

When I meet small business owners, I am surprised still at the lack of knowledge of what is required to boost rankings within search engines.  They know it’s about keywords, but don’t understand that there are different aspects of SEO including technical optimization, content optimization and link building.

As an SEO professional, you can consult, teach or implement services in each of these disciplines, or simply focus on one.  The most challenging is link building and Online PR because it requires ongoing effort.

How do you learn about SEO?  Keyword Intent provides a free SEO video blog resource for DIY SEO.  You can also read books published and sold on Amazon, read other blogs such as Search Engine Land and Search Engine Journal.  It is always good to have a mentor and surround yourself with SEO buddies so that you can bounce ideas off each other.

Attending search marketing conferences is also a good way to acquire knowledge and contacts.  A good one to attend is Search Engine Strategies.

To be meaningful, you should measure customers’ perceptions formally. This means you must have a process for asking, recording responses, and modifying the way your company goes about its business.

Some businesses make the mistake of waiting until the end of the year to ask their customers how satisfied they are. Don’t forget that your customers’ needs are constantly changing, and your competitors are not standing still. If you wait until the end of the year it could be too late.
However, a word of warning. Care should be taken when evaluating customer satisfaction surveys. Meeting your customers’ requirements may satisfy them, but satisfaction does not equate to customer loyalty. If a customer would be happier with another product, then they will switch.

Finding Out Directly From Customers…

So how do you find out what your customers value and whether they are satisfied? You must get the information directly from your current or potential customers – what they like, what they don’t like and the degree of importance your customers attach to the customer requirements listed above.

Discover how well you currently satisfy your customers’ requirements and how well your competition satisfies your customer requirements. No amount of discussing with professionals, friends or colleagues will ever replace the information from a real customer.

The main ways you can get this information are:

Ask Them
When you are dealing with existing or potential customers, strike up a conversation with them and informally ask them. Ring them and ask some questions over the phone. Or, if you can, watch what they do and how they use your products and services.

Questionnaire
You could distribute questionnaires that ask some key questions and encourage customers to fill them out.

Focus Groups
Gather a number of your customers together, sit them down and discuss a range of issues relevant to your business.

Research
Good information can often be obtained by reading newspapers and magazines, scanning the internet, contacting industry associations, or even commissioning specific reports from researchers.

Who are my customers?

• How do you know what customers value in your product or service now and in future?
• Are you sure your customers are satisfied?
• How do you help your customers and deal with their concerns and complaints?
• Are you doing enough to maintain your customer relationships?
• Do you know if you are gaining or losing market share?

Information is key to understanding what will attract customers to your business and the best information will come from your potential (or current) customers. Be prepared to invest some time, effort and money in identifying and reaching your potential customers.

Use your business planning process and research to help you identify what/who/where your target market is.

Your customers may be in a specific geographical location, part of a particular sector, interested in a particular activity (e.g. adventure tourists), active at a particular time (e.g. seasonal products or services), or have the ability to spend the amount you want to charge for an activity/service.

Reaching your customers can be achieved in a range of ways – like your website – and links to it from other relevant websites, word-of-mouth, and advertising (flyers, brochures, information pamphlets and direct mail, telephone canvassing, exhibitions, sponsoring local events, television/magazine/radio/newspaper advertisements, etc). You must choose your media carefully and direct your promotion at the area you can, or intend to, supply.

Once you have identified and reached your customers, you need to consider what practical steps you will take to keep these customers.

Continuity and succession planning is all about picking who will take on your responsibilities and having them ready to take over when you want to leave or do something different.

Unless a responsible action plan for continuity or succession is considered now, your business has a greater chance of failing:

• If you become ill or have to leave suddenly the business will deteriorate unless key employees, partners or directors know how to carry on.
• If you are unable to continue in business, your immediate family could be left without income or the business might be unsaleable.

You need to think early on about who is to take on your responsibilities, and they should gain a gradual increase in decision-making.  The person taking over must have the mutual commitment of you and your staff, which can take some time (months or years) to build up.

You might think about:

• Training an employee in the skills required
• Training a son, daughter or other relative in the skills required
• Bringing in a partner.

You should be prepared to return to the planning process at regular intervals.  For example, every month you should monitor your monthly performance in consultation with your staff, and if needed, make adjustments to your resources, budgets and plan of action.

In addition, at least once a year you should take time out to review not only your goals, but also your overall aims and purpose.  Ask yourself the following questions:

• Are my overall aims what I still want?
• Are my actions and goals working?
• Can I change my plan to reach my aims in a better way?

As the head or manager of the business, you will appreciate the need to stand back once in a while and review your business performance, and the factors affecting your business. To succeed against ever changing performance, you will need to be clear about where the business is heading as well as some way of measuring your business performance. If you don’t know where you want to go, getting there will only be a matter of luck and you probably won’t even recognize it if you do get there.

Key aspects of planning are:

• An overall aim or purpose
• A business plan
• Review of goals and purpose
• Regular review of achievements

Aim and Purpose
Your purpose or aim for the business (sometimes called a vision or mission) is not just about creating a slogan. A good purpose statement is your dream for the business, and will convey why you are in business and what you want your business to become. It articulates a credible yet ambitious future for your business which is better in some important ways to what now exists.

Why do you need a statement of purpose?

It sets your business apart from everyone else and tells your staff and customers what is different about your business.

It acts as a key motivational and confidence element to spur both you and your staff to grater heights:  We know where we are going.

Make sure you discuss the aims or purpose for your business with your staff and other interested parties. To go in the same direction, everyone involved in your business must know what that direction is.

A Business Plan
To move towards your overall aim or purpose, you need a business plan. A business plan is normally a short written document that sets out your business’ goals (steps towards your overall aim) and shows how you plan to achieve your goals through specific actions.

Many businesses don’t realize that they carry out, almost on a daily basis, the majority of activities associated with business planning. The information gathered and plans made are simply not put together in what is traditionally called a business plan.

Why should you have business plan?

• Putting all the signposts in place and following them lets you see the way forward clearly and guards against detours
• You can reduce business risk
• You can focus the effort of your staff towards specific actions
• A business plan serves as part of a loan or finance application.

A good business plan needs to look to the future. One approach is to determine short and long-term goals. They are the means by which your business will achieve its overall aim.

Short-term goals are achievable in one or two years and might include: expanding your customer base, refinancing and reducing debt, bringing in a partner, relocating premises, or paying your tax bill at the end of the year.

Other goals might be longer term (i.e. three to five years). Long-term goals might include having the best reputation in your particular sector, or reaching a certain level of income in five years. Why should you look to the longer term? Because it is highly unlikely that you can achieve everything you want from your business in one or two years, and often your investment will involve premises and equipment that have a payback period over three years or more, requiring you to think and plan beyond the short term.

Your goals should be achievable, specific, measurable and carry a deadline.

Once you have your goals worked out, you need to think about specific actions to achieve these goals. This lets you know if your plan if being implemented and if your actions are effective in achieving your goals.

In addition to goals and actions, your business plan should cover:

• What your customers have told you they want
• How you keep track of the market, including competitors
• What risks you face
• What strengths your business has (your core competencies)
• What your suppliers/partners can offer

Effective communication
Getting all the information needed to prepare a business plan requires effective communication with everyone involved, both inside and outside your business (staff, customers, suppliers) to make sure you are all pulling in the same direction.

Leadership is different to management (although both are equally important). Leadership is about setting direction and motivating and inspiring your staff to move in that direction. Management is about organizing resources and problem solving. If you are in a small business, often you have the task of being both a leader and manager.

What are the key elements of good leadership in business?

Promoting Shared Goals and Values
Your staff cannot give their best if you keep them in the dark, or they don’t know or understand how you’re trying to grow the business or the behaviors you expect. Let your staff know why they are doing something – if your staff’s goals (what they are to achieve) become the same as yours, they will hard to achieve them. And if they share your values (how you want work to be done, for example – a commitment to quality, loyalty, taking risks, being ‘green’), they will be clear about what is expected of them to achieve those goals.

Involving And Supporting Others
You do not work in isolation. It’s important that your staff stay informed and know what’s going on. Enlist the support and assistance of all who are going to make your business work – your staff, customers, suppliers, advisers and others will be willing and able to help you. At the same time, give support to others, particularly your staff. Staff respond to a leader who provides support for them – explaining, showing, encouraging and acknowledging contribution, providing resources and smoothing the way.

Foster Communication
It is essential to keep the communication channels open if you want new ideas for improved products, processes and services. Customers are the obvious source of information for better products and services. Staff – those doing the work – will be an excellent source of information for improving the way you do business.

Provide opportunities for your staff, customers and suppliers to associate and interact both in a work and social sense. Lead by walking around – see what your staff are doing and listen to what they have to say. Give your staff an opportunity to offer their opinions and suggestions without fear of ridicule or reprisal.

Setting The Example
How you act – whether you are the first to arrive to work, the last to leave, your positive attitude, how you react to stress, reward achievement, keep your promises, provide feedback – sets the standard in your business. You must demonstrate enthusiasm and commitment through your leadership to everyone else in the business. If your behavior is not consistent with the values you promote and the goals you want to achieve, your staff and customers will lose respect for them.

Your business will not survive unless you have the sills to lead…
Assess your leadership ability, motivation, communication and the adaptability to change. Strengthen any area in which you lack expertise through retraining, buying in expertise, or by having a mentor or person with whom you can discuss your business challenges.