What do you do when you fail? Let’s face it, it happens. We may not think about it as a ‘failure’ and instead turn it into a learning opportunity…but the bottom line is, occasionally…we screw up!

We all run into problems, we all have technical difficulties, and we all face frustrating times running a business. So what is your attitude when things go wrong?

I bring this up because over the last week, one of the top Internet Marketing names, Rich Schefren, has screwed up. Not once, but three times. You know what’s more painful than screwing stuff up? Doing it with a thousand customers and many more potential customers watching.

The fact is, it happens, you will disappoint people, you will have problems. The difference is how you face those problems. Do you put it behind you and move on to the solution, or do you dwell. I don’t need to point out what’s the best choice, do I?

If you’re interested in the screw ups, you can see his blog posts here and here that pretty much cover it.

So as you can see, even the big players have setbacks. The difference is how they deal with it. From now on, try not to be so hard on yourself when you have a problem and instead focus on the solution. Your business and customers will thank you for it.

It’s here! Are you excited? I am…well a little.

Yes, I’ve finally finished my first little website help video. It’s nothing impressive like the StomperNet guys produce or anything. In fact, it’s dramatically unfancy but I hope the content helps you.

It talks about the biggest problems small business owners face with their websites and then presents my blueprint for a successful website.

There’s another one on the drawing board that will go a lot more in-depth but I just wanted to test the waters with this one and see what feedback I got. So please let me know what you think in the comments below.

The short version with lovely background music (~4mins):

[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=yWuMQUH6FpM[/youtube]

The long version with my voice over explaining it (~10mins):

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnYO2YaFRAM[/youtube]

You can sign up for the next video here:
The Web Business Blunder

I’ve been so hard at work on other peoples’ websites that mine has become a little neglected again. However, it’s also been neglected because I’ve been working on a nice little informative video for you all.

It’s called the Web Business Blunder and will discuss some of the common problems small businesses face with websites. And I’ll even throw in a framework for avoiding them. I plan to do a series of videos in the very near future that will help get your website up to speed.

So stay tuned! I’ve got the webcam, I’ve got the presentation made. All I have to do is put it all together. Talk soon.

A little divergence today to talk about the future…

We now have this thing called Web 2.0 where everyone is putting masses of personal information on the web through social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and Flickr.

Currently in the US, every tiny bit of personal information is dug up about a political candidate and put under the media spotlight.

So what happens when we have so much more available now.

It’ll no longer be reported that Bill Clinton smoked pot. There’ll now a video on YouTube of him doing it. How do you say you never inhaled to that?

There’ll be photos and comments and every communication over Facebook that could be dug up and put in the public arena. Well, really, it’ll already be in the public arena.

So how do future political candidates cope? Do there parents decide they want them to run for president and then lock them away in their room at the age of 5?

For my business, I wanted to let people join my Facebook page. This brought me to a dilemma as my friends have posted pictures from parties and general mucking around that isn’t exactly business-like. So do I create a new business account and try to act all professional?

In the end, I decided I’d rather let people get to know the real me. Sometimes I get drunk. Sometimes I grow my hair very long and fluffy just for the hell of it. But I’m a real person, not some faceless company. I hope to show that in some upcoming videos and I hope everyone likes them.

Anyway, just wanted to share something I’d been thinking about. You can join my facebook if you want to see the drunken bad hair pictures…or just stay in touch.

I talk a lot about getting your website right before trying to drive masses of traffic to it. But one of the problems when improving your website is knowing whether something is really an improvement.

Personally, I can take a small business website and instinctively know how to change the text to draw a visitor in. This is just something that comes with learning how to write good copy. But once you get to that point, how do you take it to the next level?

Remember how I always talk about the importance of measurement…well this area is no different. You can actually measure a webpages results and work out how well it is converting.

I’m not talking about just what sales copy converts visitors to customers, I’m talking about getting truly specific here. Let me explain.

Remember how each webpage has a purpose, a goal that you want the user to reach? Well that means, for every individual webpage, you can measure how many visitors reach that goal. And there’s even a free tool to test what webpage is better.

So go into your free Google adwords account and look at the “Website Optimiser” tool (more information here). This is one very powerful, and very unused tool from Google that your website can’t do without.

With it, you can change the content on a single page, and test what works better. You can change your homepage text to see which copy delivers your “Most Wanted Response (MWR)” from your visitor. You can change pictures, headlines, even complete layouts if you wish.

Can you see how this might be powerful? You can now test different variations until you find the one that keeps visitors on your website. And then test different variations of the best one, until your website is a conversion machine.

So go, have a play and see what you can come up with. Now you can really put your copy writing skills to the test! Good luck!

For my business, the end of 2007 was a time of change. I refocused what my business was actually doing based on my strengths and how I could help the biggest number of small businesses. So far, those changes have made a big difference and I’m looking forward to getting fully up to speed soon.

So what has the new year bought for your business? Personally, I prefer other goal setting techniques over new years resolutions. However, the new year is a natural point to think again about where we’ve been and where we want to go in the coming year.

Obviously, this should be used for your website as well. Take this time to work out where your website is, how it performed in 2007, and how you’d like to see it perform in 2008. Back this up with measurable statistics and you’re in front of most business website owners.

So take this time to look at last years website statistics…or talk to your web designers to find out where the program is. See how much you’ve improved. Analyse how many sales you’ve made. Is it enough? How many more do you want?

Set goals and put some effort into achieving them. I promise you that you’ll see results.

I’ve always believed a lot in personal improvement. I’ve never had a coach personally but I guess that’s more because of lack of funds than lack of belief in the process.

To get my inspiration and mentoring, I’ve always turned to books, audio sets, and  now video as well. I thank people like Robert Kiyosaki, Tony Robbins, and Michael Gerber for getting me to where I am today in life and business. I consider these people my coaches.

Well I’ve recently made a big investment in my business’ future by adding another coach to my list. You’ve heard me talk about Rich Schefren in the early days of this blog and the fantastic free materials he’d released. So, I decided to scrape some cash together and make the investment in myself.

The product I bought is his Business Acceleration Program and it’s a collection of personal and business improvement DVDs, CDs, a workbook, and other materials. I’ve started using it and the insights have been phenomenal so far…and I’ve barely touched it. Rather than rave about it more, I want to get to the purpose of this post…why did I do it?

Working in coaching myself, I thought I might talk about the reason I’d spend thousands of dollars on this kind of thing!

Point 1: The coach has been and done what I want to achieve

They know what I’ve been through, they know what’s coming up, and they know the best way to approach the future.

Point 2: With their experience comes knowledge

I know by taking their knowledge I’m going to reach my goal a lot faster and a lot cheaper in the long run. The investment now is to save time and money later.

Point 3: They have a system I can follow. It’s like asking a millionaire how they got there and them giving you a step-by-step plan of how to do it…doesn’t that sound useful?

Point 4: They’re good teachers

If your coach doesn’t have a passion for teaching, then you probably won’t learn much. I know my coaches have a good way of explaining and teaching information that I can use.

Point 5: I need to be action-orientated

Getting a coach will achieve nothing if you don’t follow-through. Putting advice and tips into practice is probably the hardest skill to master for some people, but it’s the most important. Without action, it’s just an idea. And it’s very hard to improve or make money with just an idea.

As I’m more successful, I’ll move to personal coaches and advisors to help my journey. At the moment, I’m don’t exactly have money coming out my ears…a common experience for most small business owners. But using the right tools, I’ll change that soon.

My point is, the next time you think about investing in more advertising, consider investing in some new information and techniques. Not only because I’m a Web Coach! But because I think the knowledge will benefit you a lot more than doing the same things you’ve always done and hoping for better results.

Think about coaching or mentoring as a way forward for your business.

Everyone does a “Top blah blah” list at this time of year so I thought I’d give you mine. Here are the top ideas that will change the way I do business in 2008 and accelerate me far ahead of where I currently am…I just know it!

1. Focus on building a business, not chasing opportunities - Rich Schefren

   Last year I had my fingers in a few pies that were just too good to give up. Now I realise my business is my focus and everything else fits around that. And of course, now I’m avoiding new opportunities like the plague!

2. Discover and work to my strengths - Rich Schefren

   He talks about this in one of his free ebooks, The Missing Chapter, but it wasn’t until I took the strength assessment that I made the mental change. In 2 weeks I’ve realigned my business and things are looking a lot brighter.

3. “Increase the freeline” - Eben Pagan since he created the quote, also Rich Schefren

   Giving away your greatest ideas brings in swarms of interested visitors and potential customers. Proven by both Eben’s and Rich’s successful product launches.

4. Don’t help anyone…for FREE - Dean Hunt

   Confused? Dean is simply talking about when you give something away it is psychologically given a zero value. If you want to ensure they use the information, charge them for it…and also have people respect your time. So watch the balance between free and paid.

5. The power of Social Marketing - StomperNet

   Lots of people have been talking about it, some people have been using it, but it wasn’t until StomperNet laid it out so well in this video that I completely ‘got it.’

6. How to use Buzz Marketing - Dean Hunt

   Along similar lines, Dean gave us a great number of tricks for spreading buzz about your business. Sure, he gave it away but I’m still going to put a high value on it!

7. Just get started! - Rich SchefrenI can’t remember the exact quote, but it’s about taking action whenever you can. If you throw up what you’ve got and see if it sticks, you get instant feedback and can move forward from there.

I hope these tips have given you some ideas of how you can improve your business. As always, comments and thoughts are welcome.

Ok, so I kind of trailed off in the middle of my 5 biggest secrets web designers don’t know about making money on the Internet series.

Christmas was one reason, too much work was another.

But the main reason is I wanted to separate it out as an article you must read. So that’s exactly what I’ve done by revamping my website and adding an articles and videos section.

So head on over to check it out, and read in full, The 5 Biggest Secrets your Web Designer doesn’t know about Making Money on the Internet

And when you’re done, come on back to the blog and let me know what you think or ask any questions you may have.

Talk soon.