Consultation
Thinking About Starting An Online Business?
You Have A Fantastic New Idea Or Concept That You Want To Take Online? … Or, Maybe You Are Thinking About Taking Your Existing Business Online?
How would you like… some objective, professional feedback and advice that could save you years of disappointment and in many cases thousands of pounds!
Avoid the mistakes that could see you going down the wrong road! Put the extensive research and vast knowledge of KMi to work for you!
We think websites are amazing things. Every day… I get the great pleasure of personally witnessing, first hand, the potential that selling over the internet offers many businesses. The results achieved by both our own website and many of our clients are quite simply astounding!
The world is going through a radical change. The way that people interact with each other is changing. They way that people discover new information is changing. The way that people conduct research is changing. The way that we buy and sell is changing…forever.
We’ve all read the stories:
- The story of Chad Hurley and Steve Chen from YouTube (www.youtube.com) who sold their online business to Google for US $1.65 billion dollars.
- The story of Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe who sold MySpace (www.myspace.com) for US $580 million dollars.
- The story of Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis who setup and sold Skype (www.skype.com) for US $2.6 billion dollars.
There are many more. These are the ‘one in a billion’ stories of amazing success.
But what most of us miss is the millions of smaller success stories. Not as outrageous and extravagant as the ones above… but still amazing in their own right.
Stories of people and businesses, who have taken a calculated risk, ventured out online and slowly but surely achieved noteworthy success.
Let’s take a look at some other real-life examples of success on the internet.
The Whitehaven & Workington Guide - Stephen Murphy and his team had a vision to create a publication to let the good people of Whitehaven and the surrounding areas in on a fantastic hidden secret, Whitehaven is a great place to live, work and do things in. So they set up a publication with the sole aim of letting everyone know these facts and not only was this a challenge but they had the biggest publisher of news and what’s on in Cumbria on their door step, did this deter them, what do you think? when it came to go online with a brand new website they had to over come a big problem how do you get such a big project online quickly. Now they have one of the fastest growing websites not only in Cumbria but the North of England. www.thewhitehavenguide.co.uk
The Maritime Festival – The Festival has been on the go for a few years now and Gerard Richardson and the guys from the Festival Committee have done a fantastic job in promoting it but their website lacked the necessary punch and professionalism it needed to do the festival justice and cope with the growing number of visitors.
The website was redesigned and on the week of the 2007 festival the website broke all visitor records. www.thefestival.org.uk
Lloyd Cockermouth – Lloyd Motors are the biggest car dealers in Cumbria and they were looking for a new site for their Cockermouth dealership to compliment and bring in a strong visitor base. The site went live and has exceeded all expectations with visitor numbers and requests. www.lloydcockermouth.the-only-one.co.uk
It is absolutely amazing to see the range of ventures that have succeeded online. I could spend hours telling you of successful online ventures and outlining their stories from obscure niche products and services through to huge superstores.
However like all things in life, success online is not guaranteed. And for every success there are plenty of failures.
Hold On! The Web Is Not Paved with Gold.
Many people seem to think that you just cannot fail online.
All you need to do is get a website designed, put some information up about your products or services and thousands of people will flock to your website to purchase.
This is not true.
A website is a business in its own right. And just like any business, unless it is carefully researched, planned and then implemented the website will fail.
What Are The Steps To Developing A Successful Online Business
If you want to establish a successful website then there are a number of key steps that you will need to complete. The steps are very similar to establishing a successful normal business.
- Market & Competitor Research: Make sure there is a strong market for your proposed products or services. Conduct some solid market research and seek objective outside guidance to confirm that there is strong business potential for your online concept. Investigate any potential competitors to discover their strengths and weaknesses and how successful they currently are online.
- Website Fundamentals: Understand the factors that drive the performance of a website. Websites are unique in their characteristics in many different ways. Understand exactly how a website works and what factors determine whether the website succeeds or fails.
- Develop a Comprehensive Brief: Develop a comprehensive brief that lists all the different things that will be required to make your new website a success. Carefully research each of the items to ensure that you have each of your bases covered.
- Carefully Plan Your New Website: Develop a plan for the new website. Develop a powerful website strategy and carefully plan all the critical components of the website. Develop a promotional plan for the new website and work out how the new website will successfully *persuade* your visitors to take action.
- Get Your New Website Designed:Source a website designer and get the new website professionally designed and developed.
- Create Your Website Content:Create the appropriate sales copy required within your website. Create informative content, customer service content and any other required content as outlined in your website plan.
- Launch Your New Website:Launch the new website ‘live’ on the internet. Press the ‘go’ button on all of your website promotion strategies.
- Conduct Continual Test-Measure-Tune (TMT) Cycles: Conduct regular ongoing Test-Measure-Tune cycles focusing on key blockers within the website. Continually improve the effectiveness of your websites promotion and persuasion.
I think you will agree… developing a successful online business is a bit more complicated than just having a website designed. Each of the steps outlined above are absolutely vital to achieving real success.
Do Not Be Tempted To Skip Any Of The Steps In An Attempt To ‘Fast-Track’ The Process!
In the years that KMi have been working with businesses helping them to establish a successful website… I have noticed time and time again that many people are impatient and skip steps in a vain attempt to fast-track the process.
People are too anxious to get to the money steps!! They are too anxious to get to the glamorous parts and are not prepared to put in the essential hard work at the beginning!
They DO suffer the consequences as a result everytime. They shoot themselves in the foot and end up with an online business that is flawed right from the outset.
Success always requires determination, perseverance and patience! If you don’t have these qualities pay someone who does to run your business for you. It is your only option.
So How Do I Get Started…?
The first step (market & competitor research) is one of the most common steps missed (or deliberately skipped) by new online businesses.
The fact is simply this...
If you want to establish a highly successful online business then it is absolutely vital that there is a genuine market for your products or services.
If you are selling something online that no one wants then it doesn’t matter how good or bad your website is. It doesn’t matter how effective your promotion is. It doesn’t matter how persuasive your website is. Your online business will still be a complete and total failure!
Does That Sound Obvious To You?
If you are selling something online that only a few people want then once again … it doesn’t matter how good or bad your website is. Your website results will always be average.
You need to be providing a product or service that has a genuine market. There needs to be a genuine need and a genuine demand for your product or service otherwise quite simply the business idea is flawed. And it is better to find this out early on in the journey rather than after years and years of hard grind!
Completion of the first step gives you a good idea as to whether you should proceed of not.
The KMi Consultation
The KMi Consultation is designed to help individuals with the crucial ‘first step’ in the establishment of an online business. One of the most commonly overlooked steps in the whole process – the consultation is designed to show you exactly how to complete step one without taking any costly shortcuts.
With a Consultation you can tap into the experience and expertise of KMi and avoid the costly mistakes that come with not taking the ‘first step’ seriously.
Here’s how it works …
We will come and meet with you… we have helped many different business owners develop successful websites. We will meet with you either in person or via a teleconference (depending on your location and preference) and spend a couple of hours with you in which time we will do the following:
- Establish a Sound Understanding Of Your Proposed Online Business
We will spend some time gaining a sound understanding of the whole concept behind your online business. They will ask lots of questions and will get you to explain exactly what you are looking to do online and how the new venture will work from an operational perspective.
- Provide Objective Feedback
We will then provide you with some objective feedback as to the potential of your proposed online business. One of the hardest parts of any new venture is trying to look at the new venture objectively. The outside perspective of an experienced and trusted individual is worth its weight in gold. This one thing, by itself, is worth the small cost of the entire consultation. - An Overview of Budget Requirements
One of the important parts of any new venture is to figure out early on the likely funds that will be required to get the new venture ‘off the ground’. We will give you an estimate as to the costs of developing a website for your new venture and the level of funds that are likely to be required to successfully promote the new online business.
Why KMi…?
KMi is a website design and consultancy who have helped businesses generate sound results online. We have worked with business owners helping them generate improved results using a website.
KMi has an unrelenting focus on helping businesses achieve results. We know what we are talking about as evidenced by our clients and customer testimonials. Not only that… but we practice what we preach. Our own website generates nearly a third of our turnover (while another 50% is generated by word of mouth!)!
When ordering a consultation, people sometimes think that they will be talking with a technical expert, someone who designs and builds websites. Well in part you are as I will personally come out to see you for the first visit and as you can see from my background (about us link) it is steeped in internet business and marketing.
When dealing with KMi you are dealing with someone who understands business and understands how to generate serious results online.
We will never give you a one size fits all solution because your website is as individual as you and your business.
So, how much does a KMi Consutation cost?
You can order a KMi Consultation right now for absolutely nothing! That’s right, for a limited time you can order a KMi Consultation with nothing to pay whatsoever. Why, have we gone mad, you might ask?
The reason is quite simple. Generally we value our consultations at £150. However, we are currently in process of testing a number of different prices for our consultation service and due to the time of the year and a number of other factors we have decided to offer the consultation as a complimentary service.
But there are no guarantees that this offer will last. So don't delay - to order now select one of the options below.
- Call us on 01946 64300 - Please note our operating hours are 9am - 5pm GMT. Outside of business hours please leave a detailed message and we will get back to you as soon as we can.)
After we receive your order, we will call you to co-ordinate our diaries and organise a convenient time that we can meet with you in person or via a teleconference.
A Final Thought
Pausing to take stock when you are excited about a new online business concept can be one of the hardest things in the world to do. Do not be tempted to simply skip through this important step.
Remember... if you are selling something online that no one wants then it doesn’t matter how good or bad your website is. It doesn’t matter how effective your promotion is. It doesn’t matter how persuasive your website is. Your online business will still be a complete and total failure!
You can save yourself heartache and disappointment by pausing to take a breath and spending a little bit of money. Some honest advice and feedback from someone who knows what they are talking about can be the best thing in the world for you at this crucial stage. It can set you firmly on the road to success or turn you away from a road that leads to disappointment.