— Innovation & Thinking For Business Development

Garbage Out, Garbage In – Why The Question is Almost As Important As The Answer

July 12, 2011

Any entrepreneur knows that surveying your market is crucial. Getting to know who is buying – or not buying – your product is just about the most important thing you can do to ensure you are growing your business in the right direction.

So we survey. We hire a Survey Monkey or Gizmo or whatever and we're off to the races, eager to create and shoot out that first survey.

But wait! Not so fast.

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Burning Your Hand – Bad stuff makes for a great teacher.

July 9, 2011

When I talk to small business owners and ask them why they aren't doing any online testing, I hear a few different reasons. (Or as I like to call them: senseless, wrongheaded excuses.)

The #1 reason I hear for small business owners not to test is because they don't know how. Well, hello, let me introduce myself. I'm David Bullock and I can get you testing in less than a day.

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Flipping The Traffic Script – Why I don't care about crowds.

July 7, 2011

To most small business owners, more traffic means more money. "Dump that traffic on me," they holler! "I want as many visitors to my site as I can possibly get."

Not me.

Give me a fraction of that traffic. I don't care. I am far more focused on converting that fraction into buyers. That's the metric I care about. That's the metric that matters to me, and it should to you as well.
Read more on Flipping The Traffic Script – Why I don't care about crowds….

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Let's Break It Down – Taguchi Terms Made Easy

July 5, 2011

There's a lot about the Taguchi system that can turn folks off. And intimidate them. The very name of it, for one. Until they learn it was named after the brilliant Dr. Genichi Taguchi, many uninitiated think "Taguchi" is a made up word to mask a serious and complicated system.

And that's a shame. Because yes, Taguchi can be a seriously complex concept but its workable. Its doable and more importantly – its something that all business owners should be working, and doing.

So today I'm going to break down some basic Taguchi-testing definition and in doing so, I hope to bring some clarity to this incredible business tool.

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Who Cares What You Think? – It's Always About The Buyer

July 1, 2011

I'd say it's like spying. But it's even more clever. Not devious…just clever.

Continuously testing your results, particularly from an ad response, isn't just spying on what your customer is going to do, it's actually getting inside their head and tapping into what their particular criteria is. What their specific "safe combination" is.

Once you know that? Once you know that magic phrase that triggers them to stop clicking around, and start reaching into their wallet? Well then it's on. It's time to make some real money.

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Starting A Business – Using Common Business Systems

February 23, 2011

How many times have you heard the saying, "If it was that easy, everyone would be doing it."

Nowadays, starting a business and using the Internet to support your business growth really IS that easy and everyone can do it. Right now, I am working with one the most powerful tools for business development ever created.

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Website Business Assessment Increases Profits

January 6, 2011

I was just looking at one of my sites and I noticed that I pushed it up so fast that I had actually forgotten to handle a few items.

You know the drill…

putting up pages for webinars
constructing optin pages for special events on the fly.
Adding video to pages
Adding blogs

Blah blah blah…

So what did I do? I grabbed my own 82-point assessment sheet and ran a web business assessment on one of my own sites.

And lo and behold, I missed the biggies… title tags, meta tags, calls to action, the whole nine.

And then I realized a few things:

#1 It doesn't matter who you are or what your offer is. Every business website can be improved to create better results.

#2 Sites are supposed to grow over time and evolve, as your business goals and results evolve and grow.

Now this growth is good and bad.

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Web Business Assessment : Is your website doing what you want it to do?

December 29, 2010

One of the most difficult things you will ever do in your business is to keep things simple.

Sounds paradoxical, right? Think about it… there are at least a billion good profitable ideas just floating around the Internet with no home. They may be missing one of the three major online systems to turn that idea into a sustainable business (yes, just three – remember, you can keep things simple): the website system, the promotional system and the conversion system. The promotional system gets traffic to your website. The website engages them. And the conversion system turns the visitor into a prospect, and a prospect into a customer.

Do you know which system may be missing from you online business? One? Two? All of them?

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How Much Is Your Business Really Costing You?

December 6, 2010

Too many times, solopreneurs create businesses that cost more money than the business is actually producing. Then, to add insult to injury, they let their pride, or misplaced optimism, or something like it, to continue to fuel the business even though it is not as profitable at all.

You may love the idea that you have, but is it a business?
You may love the business you have built, but is it profitable?
After all, the sustenance of a business is the profit it makes… isn't it?

The questions are simple ones:

#1 : Is your business profitable. Yes or No
#2 : Do you bring in more money than your business is spending to stay afloat? Yes or No
#3 : Can you show a legitimate profit at the end of the month after you pay yourself? Yes or No

If you answered NO to any of these questions above, read on…

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Sharing Your Insights : Planning For 2011 Right Now

December 2, 2010

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