Case Study: Where Was My Contingency Plan For This One?

By Dean Mercado

Last week I experienced an unexpected yet fantastic event. One that as a small business owner would change my way of going about conducting my business forever… One that as a small business owner could potentially devastate my business… That is of course if I allowed it to by not planning for it well enough.

The event I’m speaking of was the birth of my daughter – the contingency was that she was born 2 months early… 2 months early with no advanced notice. Although personally and professionally I was prepared for and extremely excited about her coming, being a first-time Dad, there were some unknowns… unknowns that I did not foresee.

Unknowns such as:

• The emotional wear and tear on my wife and I of having to leave our daughter behind at the hospital’s Neonatal ICU for an unknown length of time. This level of personal strain most likely would seep into anyone’s professional life.
• Or, the time needed to run back and forth to the hospital every day, sometimes several times a day to be with our daughter for hours at a clip. For me, this has definitely presented several challenges including time management, scheduling, availability, client satisfaction and others as well.

And I can go on and on and on here. My point is not to sound like I’m whining or looking for sympathy or something like that but, to share some of my experience in order to help you better plan for unforeseen contingencies.

Now don’t get me wrong here, I don’t mean to speak coldly about something so glorious as the birth of my child, or the birth of any child for that matter. It’s just that contingencies such as this one do present challenges for the small business owner and need to be thought through both objectively and thoroughly and planned for carefully to minimize any potential negative impact on your business.

It’s important to note that contingencies for the small business owner come in all shapes and sizes: There are personal-related contingencies like I’ve shared with you here; there are business-related contingencies such as too many orders coming in an once – so many that you are not equipped to handle them all; and there are natural contingencies such as inclement weather that causes flooding or power outages.

So in closing, the bottom line is there will always be contingencies. And your ability to objectively think through and carefully plan for the various possibilities they may present your business will determine the depth of their negative impact on you. So do yourself and your business a major favor and don’t wait until you’re in the middle of a contingency to begin preparing for it as decisions made under duress typically are expensive ones and can hurt you. A little contingency planning goes a long way.

© 2007 Online Marketing Muscle -- All Rights Reserved.

Want to use this article in your newsletter, blog or web site? You have my blessing so long as you include the following complete blurb with it (including links).

Liked this article? -- Then you won’t want to miss Long Island-based marketing consultant, coach, and entrepreneur Dean Mercado’s highly acclaimed marketing blog 'The Motivational Marketer’s Journal' (www.MotivationalMarketer.com). Additionally, for even more small business marketing and success tips, sample the latest edition of his FREE marketing tips newsletter the 'Marketing Minute' (www.OnlineMarketingMuscle.com/marketingminute), -- a weekly multimedia e-zine designed to give you a jolt of marketing wisdom in less than 5 minutes.

Technorati Tags: Dean Mercado, Online Marketing Muscle, contingency plan, contingency planning, contingencies, small business

A 4-Phase Approach for Ongoing Web Site Success

If I could help the business world understand just one thing about Internet Marketing and more specifically web sites, it would be that web sites have to be continuously nurtured in order to continually thrive on the Internet.

Your web site is not a set it and forget it type of thing. Well, I guess it could be, however it probably wouldn’t serve you very well for long -- if at all.

Now regardless of the type of web site you have, once it’s live, to ensure it’s continual value to both you and your target market, I highly recommend that you put it on a steady diet of what I call the “Web Site Success Cycle”.

Here’s how it works. In a nutshell the “Web Site Success Cycle” consists of 4-phases, “Drive”, “Convert”, “Analyze”, and “Tweak”. And essentially they get performed in a continuous loop throughout the entire life of your web site. Let’s take a look at each phase.

Phase 1: Drive

Regardless of how much money or effort you put into your web site, no traffic equals no value… for anybody. I mean how valuable can your web site be if no one sees it? And since the whole point of having a web site in the first place should be in one way, shape, or form to create value for both you and your target market, it’s critical that you leverage whatever marketing strategies and tactics that are at your disposal to drive traffic there.

Phase 2: Convert

So now you have all this traffic coming to your web site… now what? Well you need a conversion strategy that leads those visitors down the path you want them to take -- whatever that path may be.

For example, I recommend your conversion strategy at a minimum addresses first, turning each visitor into a qualified prospect… second, turning each prospect into a paying customer... and then third, turning each customer into a raving fan.

Phase 3: Analyze

As with any other of your marketing materials and campaigns, if your web site’s not pulling its weight so to speak, change it -- Time is money here. How do you know whether or not it’s pulling its weight? Well it all starts with having clear objectives of what you want your web site to do for you; Then establishing metrics that you can regularly analyze to determine if your objectives are being met.

Phase 4: Tweak

Based on your findings in the previous phase, this phase is all about making the changes necessary to meet or exceed your objectives for your web site. Whether those changes are ones to your web site or what you do in any of the other phases, it’s all about improving your bottom line.

You always want to ask yourself here, what else can I do to take my web site to the next level?

So that’s the 4-phases in a nutshell. And in closing I’d like to leave you with this last little tidbit of advice if I may… the better you work the “Web Site Success Cycle”, the better your bottom line!

© 2007 Online Marketing Muscle -- All Rights Reserved.

Want to use this article in your newsletter, blog or web site? You have my blessing so long as you include the following complete blurb with it (including links).

Liked this article? -- Then you won’t want to miss Long Island-based marketing consultant, coach, and entrepreneur Dean Mercado’s highly acclaimed marketing blog 'The Motivational Marketer’s Journal'. Additionally, for even more small business marketing and success tips, sample the latest edition of his FREE marketing tips newsletter the 'Marketing Minute', -- a weekly multimedia e-zine designed to give you a jolt of marketing wisdom in less than 5 minutes.

Technorati Tags: Dean Mercado, Online Marketing Muscle, internet marketing, web sites