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Saturday, 18 October 2008
Top 10 Search Engine Optimization Strategies For Your Website!
By Michael Fleischner | Marketing Expert, Internet Marketing Secrets*
Although the concept of search engine optimization can be somewhat complex, there are a number of basic search engine optimization techniques you can use to improve your organic search results. Keep the following in mind when trying to achieve top rankings for your website.
2. Create and update your site map.
Developing a site map is a simple way of giving search engines the information they need to crawl your entire website. There are plenty of free software packages on the web that can help you generate a sitemap. Once you create a site map, submit it to Google and Yahoo.
3. Ensure that all navigation is in HTML.
3. Ensure that all navigation is in HTML.
All too often, navigational items are in the form of java script. Even though navigation technically still works in this format, it’s not optimized. Create your navigation in HTML to enhance internal links throughout your website.
4. Check that all images include ALT text.
Your image’s alt text is spidered by search engines. If you’re not including your keywords in alt text, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity for improved search engine result placements. Label all of your images properly.
5. Use Flash content sparingly.
5. Use Flash content sparingly.
Content generated through java script or flash is a big no-no. Some webmasters like to use flash because of the presentation. If you must, use it sparingly, but only after your site has been properly optimized with basic search engine optimization in mind.
6. Make sure that your website code is clean.
Keep in mind when optimizing a web page crawlers are basically only looking at your source code. When programming your web pages, having W3C compliant code can make all the difference. Run your code through a W3C validator before promoting.
7. Place keywords in your page content.
Search engines scan your website and web pages for keywords. Shoot for a keyword density of between two and eight percent. Google likes your page to be at the lower end of this scale and Yahoo at the upper end.
8. Submit your website to search engine directories.
8. Submit your website to search engine directories.
It’s always a good idea to let large search engine directories know that you’re out there. Submit your website URL to directories like Google, Yahoo, and DMOZ.
9. Build links to your website.
Consider building a link exchange program or create one-way links to your site using articles or forum posts. All major search engines value the importance of your website based on how many others websites are linking to it.
Good optimization takes time. People expect to see results immediately. You may very well see improvements in a short period, but reaching the number one position takes time. Be patient.
Learning to optimize your website for search engines takes time and patience. Start by applying basic search engine optimization principles. If you’re new to website optimization, or even a well seasoned veteran, begin by prioritizing which pages are most important to you and go from there. Soon you’ll find yourself moving up the rankings.
Michael Fleischner is an Internet marketing expert with more than 12 years of marketing experience. To discover how to improve search engine rankings on Google and other major search engines visit http://www.webmastersbookofsecrets.com.
The Most Important Aspect of Marketing
One of my colleagues recently asked me, out of all the aspects of marketing including online marketing, marketing strategy, Web 2.0, market research, etc., what was the most important? Without hesitation I replied, "Testing".
Many of my marketing friends might argue and profess that if you don't have the right message, reach the right audience, the right timing, or the right offer, you won't succeed. And to that I say ABSOLUTELY! In fact, those are the very elements of a successful campaign that can be identified through proper testing. So how do you know that your messaging is optimized or that you're reaching your target audience in the most effective way possible? Only proper testing can give you that information.
When someone on my team says that a particular campaign was a success I ask, "how do you know?" The answer often has something to do with metrics around campaign performance. But this information is merely releative. If your click through rate was 20% and your conversion rate was 0.35% for an online campaign, it may have generated a positive return, but is 0.35% the best we could have done? Did we test the campaign to set expectations before full launch?
By testing multiple landing pages, post cards, direct mail packages, keyword campaigns, and other marketing campaigns, you can find what resonates best with your audience and set proper expectations for performance. Once you've established a baseline, continue to test and experiment with different messaging, timing, and offers and compare your results against your baseline. Then, when someone asks you how well your campaign performed, you can say good, bad, or indifferent based on real data.
A great example of this was a recent email marketing campaign completed by my team. They tested 3 subject lines - everything else remainded the same (the list, the email creative, the price, the timing, etc.). During our test, one subject line outperformed the others 3 to 1. Wow! What a difference this made in our overall campaign performance when we sent the email to tens of thousands of potential customers.
Ongoing measurement and testing is essential for marketing success. If you're not testing your marketing campaigns on a continuous basis, you're missing out. Of course, once you establish a solid control (baseline), you'll have a hard time out performing it. In general, you'll only improve your success rate about 10% of the time. But continue to test, test, and test some more and you'll see your knowledge and results increase.
About the Author
Michael Fleischner is an Internet marketing expert and founder of MarketingScoop.com. He has more than 13 years of marketing experience and has appeared on the TODAY Show, Bloomberg Radio, and other major media. Michael is also the author of SEO Made Simple: Strategies for Dominating the World's Largest Search Engine and The Webmasters Book of Secrets: Improve Search Engine Rankings.
SEO For New Websites
Are you launching a new website? There’s no better time to think about search engine optimization than prior to launching a new site. By giving consideration to your on-page optimization factors, you can increase your chances of achieving top organic search results.
To prepare your site for easy indexing, be sure to follow these basis guidelines:
1. Design your site in html or similar format that minimizes the use of java script and flash. The more complex you make your code, the more difficult it becomes for the search engine spiders to read your content and prescribe the appropriate Google PR to your web page.
2. Make sure that your meta tags are coded properly and include the Robots.txt tag. Many individuals downplay the importance of meta tags. Although meta tags themselves won’t drastically change the organic ranking of your site, they do create the display text users will see when your site appears in search results. If your meta tags are search engine optimized and compelling, you increase the changes of improving click-throughs.
3. Apply the proper tags to your page. H1, H2, and H3 tags are a great wall to call attention to your content and promote your keywords and keyword phrases. Try to use each tag at least once, but don’t force the issues. You want your text to flow and appear normal.
In addition to ensuring that you’ve made your page easy to access and presented text that is optimized, you also want to consider other factors that can help long-term with your SEO efforts. So often, web designers get caught up with on page factors, that they overlook the requirements for establishing a foundation that supports long-term initiatives.
In particular, consider adding pages that you can add to over time that support link building and accessibility for search engine spiders. Be sure to include:
1. An html sitemap and an xml sitemap. Including a sitemap on you site makes it easy for search engines to access all of your website pages and index your site accordingly. Your sitemap should be in both html as well as xml. Although users would not access the xml sitemap, search engine spiders use this version to crawl websites. Additionally, key search engine submission resources like Google’s Webmasters Tools require xml site map versions.
2. Include a partners page. Previously referred to as a links page, the partners page is essential for reciprocal linking. This strategy isn’t as powerful as developing one-way links, but until your site has been assigned a Google PR, one-way links can be difficult to acquire. So begin your link exchange program with a partners page that allows you add or remove link quickly and easily.
3. Submission pages that encourage new content. One of the most powerful seo techniques is the addition of new content. Make it easy for your users to add or submit content to your website. When search engines see new content, they rejoice. Don’t underestimate how important it is to make it simple for your browsers to add or submit content.
When focusing on search engine optimization, especially with a new website, follow the basic ideas outlined above. There are a number of other factors to consider as well. However, you should always start with a strong foundation – a site design that meets basic SEO standards but one that also supports your long range search engine optimization goals.
About the Author:
Michael Fleischner is a speaker, consultant, and the author of SEO Made Simple: Strategies for Dominating the World's Largest Search Engine. Find helpful information to grow your business at The Good Marketing Tips Blog.
Going Digital: New Requirements Under the Foreign Trade Regulations
By Hillel M. Tuchman
On June 2, 2008, the United States Census Bureau published its newly revised Foreign Trade Regulations under 15 C.F.R. Part 30 in the Federal Register. The revision makes mandatory the filing of Electronic Export Information (EEI) through the Automated Export System (AES) or through AESDirect for all shipments where a Shipper’s Export Declaration (SED) is required. Filing of a paper SED through Commerce Form 7525-V will no longer be accepted. Although these regulations are effective as of July 2, 2008, enforcement of the new provisions will only begin on September 30, 2008, thus allowing the trade community an opportunity to comply with the rule.
The Bureau has found that during its 12 years of operation, AES has demonstrated a high level of reliability in performance; the system has been available to users 99% of the time. The Bureau has further reported that electronic filing through AES strengthens the U.S. government’s ability to prevent the export of certain items to unauthorized destinations and/or end users because AES aids in targeting, identifying, and when necessary, confiscating suspicious or illegal shipments prior to exportation.
EEI filing is required for all export shipments where the value of the goods, shipped from one exporter to one consignee on a single exporting carrier, is over $2,500. As in the past, goods must be identified by commodity numbers listed in either the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States or Schedule B. Schedule B numbers are the 10-digit commodity classification numbers administered by the Census Bureau that cover everything from live animals and food products to computers and airplanes. The value threshold applies only to individual commodity numbers meeting the specified value and not to shipments whose aggregate value meets the value threshold. However, where a shipment contains multiple items of the same commodity code, a report is required if their sum value is over $2,500. Further, in instances in which shipments contain a mixture of individual commodity numbers valued over $2,500 and individual commodity numbers valued under $2,500, only those commodity numbers over $2,500 need to be reported.
Certain shipments will always require EEI filing, their value notwithstanding. These include all shipments requiring licenses from:
- the Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS);
- the Department of State, Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC), under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR);
- the Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); or
- another federal government agency.
In addition, shipments destined to Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria, and those containing rough diamonds, require EEI filing regardless of their value.
U.S. principal parties in interest (USPPI) are the persons or legal entities in the United States that receive the primary benefit, monetary or otherwise, from the export transaction. Generally, those persons or entities are U.S. sellers, manufacturers, or order parties, or foreign entities while in the United States when purchasing or obtaining the goods for export. A USPPI has four means of filing EEI: use AESDirect; develop AES software using AESTIR; purchase software developed by certified vendors using AESTIR; or use an authorized agent. Foreign principal parties in interest (FPPI), in contrast, are the parties shown on the transportation document to whom final delivery or end-use of the goods will be made. These parties may be the ultimate consignee. An FPPI can only use an authorized agent in a routed export transaction. Currently, there are no known plans to impose a user or processing fee for using AES.
Most EEI filing must be complete at some point before the departure of the shipment. Depending on the means and type of shipment, EEI filing deadline will vary anywhere between 24 hours and 1 hour prior to departure. Shipments of merchandise found on the United States Munitions List (USML) require earlier filing than non-USML shipments:
|
| USML Shipment | Non-USML Shipment |
|---|---|---|
| Vessel Cargo | The export information must be electronically filed at least 24 hours prior to departure. | 24 hours prior to loading cargo on the vessel at the U.S. port where the cargo is laden |
| Air Cargo | The export information must be electronically filed at least 8 hours prior to departure. | No later than 2 hours prior to the scheduled departure time of the aircraft |
| Truck | The export information must be electronically filed at least 8 hours prior to departure. | No later than 1 hour prior to the arrival of the truck at the U.S. border to go foreign |
| Rail | The export information must be electronically filed at least 24 hours prior to departure. | No later than 2 hours prior to the arrival of the train at the U.S. border to go foreign |
| Mail (not pipeline) | No later than 2 hours prior to exportation | |
| All others | No later than 2 hours prior to exportation |
If the participant’s AES is unavailable, the filer must delay the export or find an alternative method. On the other hand, if AES or AESDirect is unavailable, the goods may be exported, but the filer must provide a downtime filing citation and report the EEI at the first opportunity AES is available.
Post-departure filing is only available for approved USPPIs and provides for the electronic filing of the data elements no later than 10 calendar days from the date of exportation.
Failure to comply with these regulations carries both civil and criminal penalties. On the civil side, a failure to file or a delayed filing results in a maximum penalty of $1,100 per day of delinquency, not to exceed $10,000 per violation. Filing false or misleading information results in a maximum $10,000 civil penalty per violation. Criminal sanctions for such activity or inactivity result in a fine not to exceed $10,000 and/or 5 years imprisonment. In addition, any property involved in a violation may be forfeited to the government.
Essential Needs for Companies Exporting from the U.S.: An Export Compliance Program and Due Diligence—BIS and Others Are Watching
By Christopher M. Kane and Adonica-Jo R. Wada
In today’s rapidly expanding global economy, we are witness to an international arena that has no bounds, yet is tempered by concerns for national security. As businesses streamline their processes and develop innovative ways to tap new markets, having an export compliance program is not only important, but necessary.
Senior level management and executives need to […]
Dangerous Goods by Air: Top Compliance Tips
By Christine D'Arcy
Every day, urgent consignments of both dangerous and non-dangerous goods are loaded on board aircraft and flown as cargo to their destination, thus reducing journey time to hours instead of days or even weeks by road and/or sea.
Air travel is used extensively both for business and leisure purposes, and, to ensure the safety of the […]
Going Digital: New Requirements Under the Foreign Trade Regulations
By Hillel M. Tuchman
On June 2, 2008, the United States Census Bureau published its newly revised Foreign Trade Regulations under 15 C.F.R. Part 30 in the Federal Register. The revision makes mandatory the filing of Electronic Export Information (EEI) through the Automated Export System (AES) or through AESDirect for all shipments where a Shipper’s Export Declaration (SED) is […]
Read the rest of this article »Recent Trends in the Enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
By Margaret McClellan Gatti and Julien K. Franklin
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) was enacted in 1977 and has been amended twice since its introduction. In its current form, the FCPA makes it unlawful for a U.S. person to make a payment of any kind to a foreign government official for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business or otherwise attempting to […]
Read the rest of this article »Friday, 17 October 2008
Tips: How to Expand Your Product Line
Most small-business owners dream of going big—of expanding a single product line into a full suite.
Indeed, a new product line can put a small company in front of a fresh set of consumers and dramatically increase its reach. But launching a new line is time consuming and expensive. And it could cannibalize existing product sales.
Sasha Strauss, managing director at Innovation Protocol, a Los Angeles-based brand consulting company, suggests steps a small business should take to understand its market and prudently launch a new product.
Here are a few of his tips.
1. Perform a competitive analysis. Take stock of what competitors are out in your market—and what they're offering. Read competitors' brochures. Identify their distribution channels.
And don't stop with your direct competitors. Check out what similar companies in different industries are doing. If you have a clothing company, look into jewelry companies. Think about the psychographics of your target market—its attitudes, values, fears—as well as gender, age, household income, education level and their overall buying attitudes. And study companies that have reached that group.
"You can learn a lot about the action of like-minded, similar consumers—a consuming audience with a certain kind of personality," Mr. Strauss says.
2. Talk to Your Target Audience. Forget about focus groups. Instead, Mr. Strauss suggests, try to engage in casual, authentic conversations with your target audience about what products they like and where they turn for information.
You can place an ad on local online marketplace Craig's List, offering $100 for consumers to participate in a conversation or simply reach out to friends of friends. Make sure you ask detailed questions of potential participants, so you know you're talking to potential customers. If you're selling kayaks, for example, say in your ad that you're looking for outdoor enthusiasts.
Once you have a handful of consumers, find a third party to conduct the information interviews. Don't even think about conducting them yourself—you're too tied to your product and could end up hearing what you want to hear.
![[New_Product_article]](http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-CC713_New_Pr_20080820203522.jpg)
Getty Images3. Advertise. Consider nontraditional channels, where your ads are less likely to appear head-to-head with your industry's behemoths. "A small company has to take into consideration that they're always operating in the shadow of a big business," Mr. Strauss says. "When you're small, you benefit from highly-targeted marketing programs that show [your potential customers] that 'I know something about you, and something about your lifestyle.'"
Are you entering the diamond resale business? Take out an ad in an online diamond-education forum. And become a presence on consumer forums, answering questions that reveal your deep knowledge of the subject. Having a presence on forums doesn't take much more time than designing and placing an ad, he says, and it places you directly in front of your target market. Ads in niche magazines are a prudent bet as well.
4. Don't obsess about sales goals. It's tempting, Mr. Strauss says, to fixate on how much you're selling and how it compares to your existing product line—or a competitor's products. Building a brand is tantamount to building a relationship, so it may make more sense to set goals based on the number of inquiries you're receiving about the new products. After a few months, start thinking about sales forecasts.
At the end of each phase of your launch, benchmark what you've done and the results. Did you take out a new Web ad last month? How many inquires came from that site?
"Look at the actions you've taken and the results," Mr. Strauss suggests, "and fine-tune accordingly."
How To Expand Your Business Through New Product Development
Adding new products or services to your current offerings can serve as the catalyst that drives your business to higher levels of success. New product development doesn't have to be a long and costly endeavor.
What You Should Know Before Getting Started
- Develop a Concept
- Screen Against Established Criteria
- Plan Your Development Process (blank forms provided)
- Test Your Concept
- Design the Product/Service
- Develop a Marketing Plan
- Scale-Up
- Continually Improve Your New Product
New product development can be a long and costly endeavor, but it doesn't have to be. This Business Builder will provide you with a fundamental process that will help you successfully develop and bring new products to market without jeopardizing the financial stability of your business.
What You Should Know Before Getting Started [top]
The decision to develop a new product can mark the beginning of an extremely difficult process for many businesses. Adding new products or services to your current offering can serve as the catalyst that drives your business to higher levels of success. In fact, new product development is often considered to be the cornerstone for building any successful business. Without it, businesses tend to stagnate, then eventually decline. This is particularly true for businesses that primarily focus on the short-term bottom line.
To successfully develop new products or services for your business, you will need to coordinate your new product development activities as effectively as possible. By productively performing each of these activities, you will be able to develop new products or services from concept to market introduction sooner than you thought possible.
Here are a few things to keep in mind as you get started:
- Determine who will head the effort. This person essentially owns the product development process. He or she is responsible for taking the product from concept to market. If you are an owner of a small company, you may want to lead the effort. This may mean that you will have to entrust others with some of your current duties while you champion the new product. If you have a larger organization, then you may want to assign the position to someone on your staff. Be aware that this can be a full-time job. Don't take on too many other responsibilities or your new product development effort may suffer.
- If you have the available resources within your organization, you should charter a small team to help you develop the new product.
- Always stay focused on the customer's needs! If possible, involve your customers in the design phase of your product development. They can help you stay focused on their needs as you design the product.
- Make sure you document your development process. This information will be very useful during and after the process. By periodically reviewing your progress, you can determine if you are headed in the right direction. Reviewing this information at the end of the process will also help you to streamline and improve future product development efforts. The documentation will also be important if you ever need evidence that you developed the new product when you did.
A systematic approach is the best way to design and develop a new product. Without it, you can waste a lot of precious resources. The following steps will effectively and efficiently guide you through the new product development process:
- Develop the Concept
- Screen Against Established Criteria
- Plan Your Development Process
- Test The Concept
- Design Your Product/Service
- Develop a Marketing Plan
- Scale-Up
- Continually Improve Your Product/Service
Step 1: Develop A Concept
All new products start with a concept. If you don't already have a concept for a new product, then you will need to develop one. This step will provide you with a fundamental approach to developing a new product concept.
Identify A Need
Most good concepts begin with either a perceived, or a measured need. Ways to identify needs are:
- Talk With Your Customers. Ask them what additional products they feel you should offer. Although this can be subjective, it can reveal some gaps in your current product line.
- Conduct Brainstorming Sessions With Key Employees. Those who deal with your customers every day should have some sense of what may be a good product to add to your current product line.
- Listen To Your Own Instincts. If you've already developed a successful business, then you have some insight about what your customers want.
- You'll Probably Have Several Needs From Which To Choose. Pick the one with the greatest impact on your customers. After all, they're the ones that are going to buy your new product/service. Once you have identified the need, capture it in writing as clearly and concisely as possible. Describe the need and why it exists. Be sure to describe who the customer is.
- For Example, the ABC Sandwich Shop managers were looking to broaden their product offering. Rather than immediately introducing a sandwich that they thought had appeal, they decided to survey their customers to determine what their needs were. After analysis of the survey results, they found:
A need exists for a great tasting, low-fat sandwich that would appeal to customers who are concerned about maintaining a healthy diet. This sandwich would also appeal to customers that were not health conscious as long as it didn't taste "healthy."
Summarized: "A need exists for a sandwich, low in fat, tastes great but not 'healthy.'"
After you have thoroughly defined the need, summarize it and post it where most of your product development work will be conducted. Review the summarized need regularly as you develop your new product. This will keep you focused on the customer throughout the development process.
Develop A Concept
Next, you will need to develop a concept for a product that will meet the need. Again, your customers' and employees' inputs are valuable here. Most likely, when you are soliciting feedback on needs, they will offer suggestions on products and services that will meet those needs.
In addition to your customers and employees, other organizations may be sources for new product ideas. Such resources include patents, concepts, or ideas that you may want to license or develop further:
- Patents
Ask for help with a patent search at your local SBA office or contact the U.S. Patent Office. The weekly Official Gazette published by the U.S. Patent Office lists patents granted. It is available with cumulative indexes at many large libraries. Check with patent attorneys, as well. - Government Research Reports
Government Reports Announcements and Index is an index to government sponsored research reports. It is available online at large libraries, or a subscription can be purchased from the National Technical Information Service (NTIS). Among the GRAI listings, for example, you'll find the semiannual NASA Patent Abstract Bibliography, that lists NASA-owned patents. NASA Tech Briefs are one or two page descriptions of ideas, patents and concepts available to the general public. - Large Corporations
Large companies often have hundreds of patents for products that they haven't commercialized. A check with large companies in your industry that could be sitting on a patent could reveal your gold mine. - Inventor Shows
Large metro area chambers usually sponsor Inventor Shows in their regions. Call your chamber to find when the next one is scheduled or contact the Office of Inventions and Innovations for a listing.
Now, describe each of your prospective products and include the following:
- What is the need? Use the need description that you developed earlier.
- How will this product meet the need? Describe its features (product characteristics) and benefits (value the customer derives).
- Is it unique, or are there other products like it on the market?
- Are there products in our current offering that it will compete with?
Going back to the ABC Sandwich Shop, they came up with the following three potential sandwiches based on the identified need
- A fresh, roasted turkey sandwich with cranberry sauce and low-fat stuffing
- A low-fat grilled salmon sandwich with low-fat toppings
- A low-fat vegetable burger
You can't work on every great idea so you'll have to decide on criteria to help narrow your selection. There is no standard set of criteria that is best in all cases. You need to establish your own to suit your own company's needs. The following questions may help decide what criteria are best for you:
Company's Strengths
- What strengths can you exploit to produce your product/service?
- What are your technological capabilities?
- What are your sales force capabilities? Are you staffed adequately? What are your sales force's skills?
- What is your company's current cash/credit position?
- What is your company known for? Reputation?
- Do you prefer a particular industry?
- Do you prefer a product sold to retail users, industrial users, government, etc.?
- Do you prefer a product with a long usage or would you consider a fad item?
- Do you have a distribution preference?
- Do you want to distribute internationally?
- Are you willing to create a new sales and marketing team to support the product?
- What is the sales volume you expect?
- Do you have any pricing expectations?
- Will this product need to be self-sustaining (support all of its operations)?
- Does the product need to be internally produced?
- Will you consider licensing?
- Would you joint venture with another company for a new product?
- Are there any physical limitations to a new product or service? Size, weight, volume?
- Are there any operational limitations? Equipment, storage?
- Do you have personnel trained to support the new product?
- Have you established a budget?
- Has a timeline been set for when the new product must be profitable?
- What kind of profit margin is expected?
- Can the product have seasonal cycles?
After you've determined your criteria for your new product development process, test your prospective products. This is your company's acid test. Be objective. Narrow down your choices until you have one prospective product on which you will focus you product development efforts.
For example, after considering their own special needs, Wacky Widgets developed the following criteria for their new product:
Wacky Widgets Market Product had to be used by industrial firms. Retail was inappropriate and the government was out of the question.
Product At least 50 percent of the manufacturing costs had to utilize current equipment. New product must have patent or be patentable.
Price Since they were known as a low-cost supplier, the company's new widget must fit within their current price ranges.
Volume More than 10 million pieces sold by third year.
Finance The budget available is $75,000.
Now, take some time to determine your new product criteria and choose the product that your company plans to develop.
Step 3: Plan Your Development Process
It is wise to plan your development process before you become too attached to your new product concept. If you fall in love with a new product concept before you have a development plan, then you may not make sound business choices as you work through the development process. This is not to say that you shouldn't feel emotional or passionate about a new product, but establish some guidelines early in the process so that you don't lose sight of your objective to develop a new product or service as cost effectively as possible. This plan will keep you focused throughout the new product development process. Use the information in this Business Builder as a guideline for developing a plan. This Business Builder should also help you to estimate the amount of time and money you should invest in each of the development steps. The plan should include:
Creating A Timeline
A timeline will provide the impetus to complete your product development in a timely, cost-effective manner. Product development efforts that have no schedule for completion tend to be unnecessarily long and extremely costly. If you don't have a product release date that you must meet, then estimate the amount of time it should take to complete each step, and add the steps sequentially to the timeline. This will give you a good idea of when you should be able to release the product to market. If you are developing a product that must be released by a certain date, then develop your timeline by working backward from that date.
For example, if you are developing a new line of Halloween costumes that must be ready for release by early summer so that retailers can order them and receive them by September, then start with an early summer release date and work backward. This can be tricky since it often means that to make the release date, you must compress the amount of time it will take to complete some of the steps. Compressing steps may put a strain on your resources by requiring more overtime hours than you would have normally anticipated. If this is the case, then be sure to estimate the extra time in the resource needs portion of your plan.
Now, create a timeline for your new product development. Include target dates and milestones.
Estimating Your Resource Needs
Estimate the number of work hours and the amount of money you will need to invest in each step. Be sure to include any outside services (i.e., marketing and research consultants) that you may need. Estimating resource needs will give you some idea on the types of resource strains you can anticipate throughout the project. It will also serve as the basis for developing a budget for your development efforts.
Developing Your Budget
Your plan should include a budget for the entire development process. Budgeting your resources (time, money and people) will help you maintain fiscal responsibility during the development process. Use the resource needs estimate as the basis for your budget.
For example, The ABC Sandwich Shop wants to add a new sandwich to its menu. The following is a list of the expenses the owner expects to incur in developing a new sandwich and bringing it to market. He and one other employee will do most of the work. Since he is the owner, he is not including his time as an expense.
| Concept Development | $ |
| Employee time (10 hrs @ 6.50/hr) | 65 |
| Materials (miscellaneous supplies) | 50 |
| Outside services (needs survey) | 200 |
| Total | $315 |
| Concept Testing | $ |
| Employee time (20 hrs @ 6.50/hr) | 130 |
| Materials (miscellaneous supplies) | 100 |
| Outside services (test survey) | 300 |
| Total | $530 |
| Product Design (developing the recipe) | $ |
| Employee time (30 hrs @ 6.50/hr) | 195 |
| Materials (sandwich ingredients) | 200 |
| Outside services | 0 |
| Total | $395 |
| Scaling Up | $ |
| Employee time (20 hrs @ 6.50/hr) | 130 |
| Training cost | 75 |
| Materials (ingredients) | 300 |
| Outside services | 0 |
| Total | $505 |
| Marketing | $ |
| Employee time (30 hrs @ 6.50/hr) | 195 |
| Materials (ingredients) | 300 |
| Outside services | 0 |
| Total | $570 |
| TOTAL ESTIMATED COST | $2315 |
Develop your budget. Remember to include estimates for all the resources that you plan on using.
Step 4: Test Your Concept
It is important to test your concept before you invest a great deal of time and money in the development process. Testing the concept should give you some solid indications about the product's technical feasibility (Is it technically viable and can it be produced?) and commercial feasibility (Will people buy it?). At any time in this testing process you may decide to scrap a concept and look for a better one.
Technical Feasibility
Testing for technical feasibility requires a review of your own operational capabilities as well as whether the product/service technically does what it is supposed to do.
For example, Wacky Widgets developed a prototype for a new widget that when attached to a normal light bulb would extend its useful life 10 times. They were able to manufacture the new Weely Wacky Widget on one of their machines that had been sitting idle. The problem, however, was finding an adhesive that would withstand high temperatures. After they spent more than one year trying to develop such an adhesive with the world's largest adhesive company, they had to scrap the project. They were able to produce the product; however, the product was not technically viable.
Depending on the nature and complexity of your product/service, technical feasibility could be a series of controlled experiments or just a few tests. Whatever the case, this testing should help you determine if you can make the product with your current capabilities, or if you need to invest in new production equipment or service capabilities. These types of considerations could be very critical to your decision to go ahead with the new product concept. After you are satisfied that you can produce and deliver a new product, you need to determine if it is a product that your customers will buy.
Commercial Feasibility
Testing for commercial feasibility, or marketability, in another critical step in testing your product concept. The results of this testing should confirm whether there is a market for your new product or service.
For example, Shrinkos 24-Hour Laundry Service decided to add a health club to each of their facilities. They felt it was a natural providing their clients with something useful they could do when waiting for their laundry to be cleaned. After conducting some focus groups that provided very favorable feedback on the combination, they decided to test market the concept at their Philadelphia location. The response was incredible, encouraging them to proceed further with their new product development plans.
There are various methods for testing your customer base to determine if enough interest exists to make a new product marketable:
- You could invite customers to participate in focus groups or answer questionnaires concerning the desirability of your new product.
- You could send out samples of your new product to customers and have them try it out.
- You might also want to run a small-scale test market to determine its market potential.
- Whatever you decide to do, your marketability testing should answer the following fundamental questions:
- How unique is your product? Uniqueness is a desirable characteristic for any new product or service. It usually indicates that little or no competition will exist in the marketplace. On the other hand, it could indicate that you will need to spend more on your promotional efforts to establish what will essentially be a new market.
- Is the target customer interested in the product? The results of the testing should help you determine the level of interest that exists in your target market. This doesn't necessarily mean that interest to purchase exists. It merely indicates that the product has potential.
- Does an interest to purchase exist? Determine if the product has enough purchase appeal to make it viable. If there is interest, but the customer isn't sure if he would purchase the product (for any number of reasons that may be revealed by your test results), then you may want to redesign the product concept to increase its purchase appeal.
- How much would the customer be willing to pay for the product? Knowing how much the customer is willing to pay for a product will help you determine the product's profitability. If there is strong purchase interest, but, if given your current capabilities, the product doesn't have good profit potential, then you may want to reconsider how you would produce and deliver the product to the marketplace. This information will also help you with your pricing strategy.
- What will the competition be? It is critical to have a good understanding of the type of competition your product will face in the marketplace. This will help you decide how you should position your new product in the market. If your testing reveals that the market is already saturated with similar products, then you may decide to either redesign it with more unique features, or scrap it and try something else.
- How unique is your product? Uniqueness is a desirable characteristic for any new product or service. It usually indicates that little or no competition will exist in the marketplace. On the other hand, it could indicate that you will need to spend more on your promotional efforts to establish what will essentially be a new market.
The amount of concept testing that you employ depends on your available resources and the amount of substantiation you require to make a commitment to develop the new product. Find a middle ground that will meet your needs. Not enough testing could cause you to spend time and money developing a product that is not feasible or not marketable. Too much testing could cause you to miss the opportunity to get a good product or service into development and onto the market in a timely manner. This could result in a competitor beating you to product release, or a missed release for a seasonal product.
Decide on your plan to determine technical and commercial feasibility for your product.
Step 5: Design The Product/Service
Assuming that your concept testing revealed that you have a potential winner on your hands, the next step is to design the product. Once again, the length of time and the resources required to design the new product depends on the nature of the product and the size of your organization. Now is the time to review your development plan to help you assign the necessary resources to the design process.
Your new product design activities will, of course, be driven by the nature of the product. However, in most cases, your design should include all the specifications needed to produce the product. For instance, if your new product requires discrete parts assembly, then you will need to have detailed engineering drawings, parts specifications, and assembly instructions. If your product is food related, then you will need to develop a recipe and preparation instructions.
Important: It is critical that throughout the design phase you review your progress so that you can:
¢ Verify that the product design is being driven by the customer needs. Identify and resolve any resource issues such as increased funding or manpower requirements. Identify any capacity constraints that could restrain you from introducing the product or service onto the market by your targeted introduction date.
¢ Develop a working prototype that can be examined and tested by potential customers. Make sure the prototype meets your requirements for quality, customer satisfaction and cost. It may take several tries before you get it right. However, if your design activities are thorough and well coordinated, you may only need to develop a few prototypes before you have a finished design.
¢ Consider production techniques and costs when you design your product. If you can design the product so that it can be produced with fewer process steps, then you will be simplifying your process and decreasing the cost of production. It is essential that you DO NOT release your new product from design to production before it is ready. Rushing a new product onto the market before it is ready could turn a potential winner into a bomb very quickly. After the product has been released and is on the market, it is very difficult and costly to change customer perception of your product. It is better to delay the release, if possible, and deliver a quality product.
For example, the ABC Sandwich shop owner remembers the last new sandwich that he introduced the Hawaiian Special. He believes the sandwich failed because he rushed it onto the market before he had the right combination of ingredients. Back then, he felt that he could fine-tune it while he sold it. However, he learned a rather costly and unfortunate lesson: instead of achieving a recipe that his customers liked, they were so turned off by the early version that they were never willing to try the later, improved version.
If you are offering a new service, the same advice holds true. Do not offer your new service to your customers on a large scale until the design is complete. This includes making sure any equipment or supplies you may need to perform the service are available when you offer it.
For Example: The Tidy Home Cleaning Service decided to branch out and, in addition to residential homes, offer cleaning services to large offices. Unfortunately, their equipment (vacuum cleaners, floor buffers, etc.) was geared more for home cleaning than office cleaning. Nevertheless, they landed a few big offices contracts. The owner couldn't afford new equipment so he sent his employees off to do the work with inadequate equipment. Within two weeks, the offices canceled the contracts because, with the equipment they were using, his employees couldn't adequately clean the offices within the allotted time. This left the company with a bad reputation among the local offices in the market area. Consequently, the owner ruined any chances he may have had to expand his business beyond cleaning homes.
List the critical design specifications for your new product or service. What is the current status of your design efforts? Are you on track with your development plan?
Step 6: Develop A Marketing Plan
While you are designing your new product, you will need to develop a good marketing plan for promoting your new product and delivering it to the market. This step should be performed simultaneously with your design efforts. Your marketing plan should focus on three key areas:
Pricing Your New Product
Your pricing strategy can have a strong impact on how well your new product performs on the market. If you are competing with some established products, then you may need to introduce your product at a lower price. The results of your concept testing should help you determine your pricing strategy. If you need more information to develop your pricing strategy, you may need to do some additional market research. This will give you a better idea of where the competition is and how you should position your new product in the existing market.
For example, as part of his concept testing activities, the ABC Sandwich shop owner visited his competitors' stores to see what they had to offer in the way of low-fat sandwiches. He found out that although his product was unique, some of his competitors offered "health-conscious" sandwiches. They were priced a little higher than their other sandwiches. He decided that he could price his sandwich a little lower and still make a reasonable profit. If the sandwich became as popular as he suspected, he could cut his costs by buying larger quantities of the ingredients. This would allow him to increase his profits without raising the price of the sandwich.
Promoting Your New Product
Develop a marketing plan that explains how you will introduce and promote your new product to the target market.
This plan should include any media, point of purchase, mailing, telemarketing or other advertising you plan to use. If you market through a sales force, then you will need to develop some sales strategies and prepare your sales people with all the promotional tools and information they will need to promote the new product. These include items such as brochures and updated price lists. Since you are already in business, you should have some idea of what has worked for you in the past. If you use a marketing or advertising agency, then involve them in this process after you have decided to develop the new product. They will be able to help you determine the best marketing methods for promoting your new product.
Effective techniques for promoting a new product include introductory offers such as giveaways, contests and coupons. Do some early promotions before the product is released so that customers know that it will be on the market soon. If done effectively, this can build consumer anticipation and result in a successful release.
For example, to promote his new product, the ABC Sandwich shop owner decided to have some point-of-purchase advertisements developed by a small graphics company. They designed some hanging mobiles that could be produced in limited quantities at very little cost. The owner also had the graphics company design a coupon that was printed in the local newspaper. The coupon offered a free drink with the purchase of the new sandwich.
Delivering Your Product To The Customer
You will need to develop a delivery plan for getting your products to the customer. If you sell to retailers, then you will need to have their orders and establish a delivery method ahead of time. If you are offering a new service, make sure your employees are trained well enough to deliver the service effectively. In short, create a detailed plan addressing all the logistics of delivering your new product to the market.
For example, the Pedal Power Bicycle Shop decided to offer customized Italian bikes in their small mail-order catalog. Prior to this offering, they sold only bicycle components through the catalog. Pedal Power purchased the bicycle frames and had their employees assemble the frames to customer specifications. In order to deliver the products, the company had to purchase special shipping boxes and establish a shipping contract with a delivery service that could handle packages of that size.
Review the preliminary market data you've gathered so far and decide what's missing. Create your marketing plan which details your pricing strategy, promotional activities, and delivery logistics.
Step 7: Scale-up
After you have designed your new product or service, it is time to scale it up for market introduction. If you have involved all crucial functions in your organization during the development process, then this transfer should go smoothly. Your marketing plan should already be in effect and you should have orders for the new product before you schedule the first production run or offer your service for the first time. Make sure you have all the equipment and materials available to meet the early production demands. Problems early on could leave a permanent scar on your customers.
For example, after an aggressive sales campaign that highlighted the many benefits of their new Wow Widget, Wacky Widgets made sure they would be able to fill their customers crucial orders by making sure that all the tooling and production materials needed were available and ready. A slip-up here could spell disaster to the success of their Wow Widget.
Consider establishing a product-or service-based process that is based on actual orders rather than forecasts. By doing so, you can reduce your finished product inventories or service support materials to a minimum. Establishing a streamlined process for a new product or service up front is much easier than trying to reengineer an existing process after it's designed.
For example, the Pedal Power Bicycle Shop arranged to have bicycle frames shipped to them overnight on an as-needed basis from three different Italian frame builders. Cost-effective shipping fees and special purchase arrangements with their suppliers allowed them to offer custom bicycles while maintaining little or no inventory. This was a departure from the normal method of producing custom bicycles. Bicycle mail-order companies would typically forecast their sales and purchase large quantities of frames in various sizes. They would then draw from their inventory as needed. At the end of a season, they would have to sell their extra frames at reduced prices to move the inventory. Because Pedal Power developed a system that was driven by customer demand, they didn't have to maintain costly inventories. They were also able to respond quickly to orders and meet their customer's needs.
As you get ready to scale-up, what do you need to do to make the transition a smooth one? What materials, supplies and equipment are needed for full-scale startup? Are you staffed appropriately? List what you need to do before you provide your first product or service to your customer.
Step 8: Continually Improve Your New Product
As you begin to capture market share with your new product, you must remember to stay focused on meeting your customers' needs. Conduct customer surveys to find out what they like and dislike about your product. Talk to them personally and ask them what they think. If your business is driven by a desire to continually improve your products so they meet your customers' needs, then you will always be successful.
Now, outline your plan to determine your customers' ongoing and future needs. Will you use surveys, interviews? How often will you collect this information?
Next Steps [top]
Measure your success by applying standard business measures to the performance of your new product. You should be tracking your sales, market share, profit and loss, and all other key measures that apply to this product. Use this information along with customer and employee feedback to improve the quality of the product. Learn from your new product development efforts so you can improve the process when you develop future products.
Checklist [top]
When you have completed this Business Builder, you should have a general understanding of the following key elements:
___ The process for identifying an existing need
___ Techniques for developing a new product concept
___ The process for designing a new product and scaling it up
___ Marketing requirements for introducing a new product to the market
___ The importance of establishing a continuous improvement program for your new products and your new product development process
v-gul furniture bussines
Phase one: Establish a company
Test your idea, build a team and get a business plan together.
Your role as a spectator who merely watches as other adventurous souls launch their own startups is about to end. The decisions you make at this early stage of the game will do much to shape the long-term destiny of your venture.
The tools you'll need to make a go of it include a whiteboard for brainstorming, a cellphone with loads of minutes, a new credit card and some simple accounting software, like Intuit's QuickBooks. Most important, don't procrastinate. If you don't act on your burst of business insight, someone else surely will.
$$$ required: $15K to $25K
Step 1: Stress-Test Your Big Idea
Objective: Debug and perfect your business brainstorm.
You have a brilliant idea. It's shrewd. It's timely. You think about it so much it keeps you up at night. It might even make you rich. There's just one thing left to do: Make sure it really has legs. The only way to do that is by bouncing your idea off as many people as possible. Friends and family probably can't provide the critical insight you need. Track down at least a dozen people with expertise in the market you intend to enter. You want candor and honesty, not diplomacy. Understanding why your idea is flawed is as useful as knowing that it's pure genius. Many will likely express support, but the real question is this: Would they pay money for your proposed product? Use each conversation to sharpen how you explain what your company will sell -- if you can't describe the product clearly and concisely, how can you possibly sell it? Finally, before saying goodbye, always get the name of another person with whom you can discuss your idea.
Step 2: Build Your Founding Team
Objective: Join forces with other execs to navigate the challenges ahead.
Starting a company isn't just a full-time job; in many cases, it's three full-time jobs. The ideal founding team is a triumvirate that includes an ace technologist, a big strategic thinker, and a dealmaker who focuses on sales and marketing. Although everyone must have relevant industry experience, a good Rolodex, and the willingness to wear many hats, trust and good judgment are the most essential ingredients. Expectations should be clearly laid out, and the founders' financial interests should be mutually aligned. "You need to feel confident that your co-founder will fight for a deal as hard as you would," says Dan Gould, co-founder of online news aggregator Newroo.
It's tempting to partner with good friends, but that's not necessarily a pathway to success. In fact, it's dangerous -- under the stress of running a business, your friendship will surely be tested and quite possibly destroyed. Instead, when searching for a partner look for these qualities: Loyalty to the business idea, honesty, versatility, connections that can attract talent to the team, and the ability to be flexible in the face of changing circumstances.
Step 3: Draft a Business Plan
Objective: Map out the market and explain how you fit in it.
A business plan is neither a core asset nor a sacred text. It's just a tool to help focus your ideas and a conceptual summary to share with potential investors, advisers, and employees. The business plan sells your vision for the company: why it's viable, why it's better than anything else out there, and why your team has what it takes to make it happen. It should also detail key factors that relate to the company -- target markets, goals, product attributes, revenue projections, competitive differentiators, and founders' resumes.
Visit the Small Business Administration's website or Bplans.com for an overview of the structure and components of a typical business plan, as well as links to dozens of sample plans. But the most important thing is a well-honed executive summary that's no more than three pages long. Grab the reader's attention by starting with a simple two-sentence description of your company and what it will do. (Rest assured, you'll use those two sentences often.)
And be sure the most common business plan mistakes. Don't ask potential investors to sign a nondisclosure agreement. (It's a rookie move. Besides, they won't sign anyway.) Don't spend too much time describing the market -- instead detail how you plan to dominate it. Don't make wildly optimistic projections -- nothing will get the door slammed in your face faster -- and don't exaggerate your experience. You'll be found out and your credibility destroyed.
Finally, no matter what, don't fall in love with your business plan -- it'll change many times in the months ahead.
Step 4: Play the Name Game
Objective: Give your startup a handle that works.
What's in a name? Plenty. It will make a first impression, carry brand equity, and provide a foundation for every marketing effort you'll ever launch. Naming gurus like David Placek of Lexicon Branding argue that startups should look for names that are either simple and easy to understand (like Salesforce.com (Research)) or quirky and memorable (like Google (Research)). Some names combine the two: Narendra Rocherolle settled on 30Boxes, an easy-to-remember name for his calendaring startup that also alludes to a monthly datebook.
But creativity is only part of the naming challenge; there are legal concerns as well. Before you become attached to any name, check the U.S. government's trademark website to make sure no company serving an overlapping market has staked out a similar moniker. You don't need a lawyer to file a trademark of your own, but the $500 to $700 you'll spend for a professional trademark search -- from a company like Thomson CompuMark -- is a smart investment before you sign papers that make your name official.
Step 5: Incorporate Thyself
Objective: Adopt the corporate form that's best for your growth plans.
Your startup may consist of just a few warm bodies crammed into a living room, but you still need to establish it as a legal entity. A formal corporate structure solidifies the standing of the founders and provides potential investors with the assurances they need to participate in the company's financial evolution. Incorporation also provides tax benefits and all-important liability protection. Hire an experienced lawyer who specializes in setting up startups -- many will even defer payment until the first round of financing. If your lawyer likes your business plan, he or she may also become a crucial source for later introductions.
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