Ranking on the front page of Google searches for renowned Sydney child psychologist Andrew Greenfield is one of the benefits of having a new Bloomtools-built website for his Psych Support Assessment Services Child Psychologist website.

Previously appearing on pages further back in Google, the new website is a welcome change from Greenfield’s former template-based site.

Greenfield says the Bloomtools team was “very patient with me” during the set-up operation, and helped the process along by explaining things in a professional yet user-friendly way from start to finish, which was “very easy to understand”.

Working in a busy practice, with regional bases in Bondi Junction, Chatswood and Westmead in Sydney, Greenfield needs as much time to focus on his business as he can.

“The website saves me so much time because I can refer potential patients to the site to find information about the services I offer, our office administration and the strategies I use,” he says. “And I’d say 70% of clients who phone me have already been to the website before making contact.”

Greenfield is using the Promo Boxes because they stand out visually, provide an easy way for visitors to find information on the website and encourages them to take the next step (calls to action). Best of all he loves being able to make the changes himself.

“With a bit of basic training, I have found I can do almost anything myself when using the backend of my website. Making changes has been a breeze,” he says.

“I can thank my brother for recommending Bloomtools to me. He’s in e-commerce marketing and knows all about the best deal for the right price when it comes to building websites. It was also an advantage that Bloomtools was an Australian company.”

One more benefit that Greenfield notes about sending clients to the new website is that it “looks great, too! Very professional overall.”

Despite reports of doom and gloom in the economy in the year gone by, the retail sector experienced solid growth in 2012. In fact, according to a report by Urbis Property Consultants, online shopping grew 25 per cent despite a disappointing year for retail centres.

This data represents the large potential in the online trend. Here are five ways to take advantage of the online boom:

1. Incorporate online and offline

Experts agree that the difference between a successful brick-and-mortar store is the company’s willingness to adopt an online presence and how that presence complements the offline experience. Empower your employees with payment devices that allow them to complete a transaction from the showroom floor. Develop a social media presence to better connect with customers. People at every age are embracing social media as a normal part of their lives and the businesses that are able to tap into that practice have a higher chance of converting them.  Utilise email Marketing to encourage repeat business from past clients - it is still the number one most cost effective and results generating marketing strategy.

2. Improve the retail experience

Rather than seeing online (your online shopping cart) as a competitor to your brick-and-mortar business, appreciate the competitive advantage of a concrete store. Train your team to become experts in your trade so customers come to you for answers. Use your retail space to be creative and inspire customers with new ideas. Wow new visitors with exceptional service and don’t limit it to offline – the superior retail experience of knowledge, inspiration and service can easily be translated to online too (for bricks and mortar retailers, this will give you the advantage you need over pure play retailers).

3. Embrace transparency

Consumers can now complete their research better and easier than ever before, using online to search for the best price and peer reviews. If price is your advantage, keep up to date to ensure you remain competitive. If quality is your thing, be sure to incentivise customers to share their experience online.

4. Appreciate Australia’s advantage

Local consumers may be looking to buy from international brands, but remember that international brands are looking to the Australian market as well. Our economy is strong in comparison to many brands’ markets overseas, and our consumers have more dollars to spend. Consider what you can offer that overseas brands cannot.  Really push you are an Australian company to your advantage.

5. Learn from the international market

At the same time, don’t bury your head in the sand. The fact that the top online brands in the US are brick-and-mortar stores demonstrates a willingness to invest in online. Be curious about what’s going on overseas and apply those lessons to your business.

2013 holds great promise for small and medium businesses as the online world continues to open up a wealth of opportunities – are you doing all you can to take advantage of them?

Sources: 

Innovation Australia

ABC Network

Social Media Examiner

While the saying “the customer is always right” isn’t always right, every business owner needs to know that their customers are happy – and if not, why not.

Why you should care

Learning to love customer feedback is one of the best ways to keep your business healthy. You’ll be able to pre-empt potential backlash against a new product or company change, understand if a large percentage of customers share this negative sentiment or determine that it’s just a disgruntled few, as well as prioritise the items that are most important to focus on for company growth.  Or even, just be alerted of to just one unhappy customer and have the opportunity to make amends before they leave and tell others...

Encouraging customer feedback can also lead to stronger relationships with your clients. They’ll know that you are listening and will love you for it.

How to get it

• Empower customer-facing employees: Small to medium businesses have an advantage over online companies in that they often deal with customers directly. Create a culture of listening and learning in your company so that employees are always open to hearing customer feedback. Give them the autonomy to act on negative feedback like offering a discount or allowing returns if the situation calls for it. Your customers will be grateful for the consideration.
• Do the after sale call: Time is not always a factor we all have plenty of, but this is one strategy the payment forward will be worth it.  Call all your new customers, after you have delivered the service or product and have a reason for the call - whether it be a great tip or just to check that all went as well as expected.  It will let you uncover anything immediately that you need to work on, but for the many that are really happy about your service - it will make them want to tell more about you (especially if you mention it...)
• Conduct surveys: Make an effort to regularly check in with your customers. Provide a number of feedback channels so they can contact you in the manner they prefer. Some might like to tweet you or comment on Facebook, others prefer to speak over the phone, while some might like to fill out a quick multi-question online survey. If you’re working with limited resources, try automating your survey, by setting it up as a trigger to go out to all new customers x days after they come on board.
• Monitor activity: Following customer activity online can be a good way to understand what’s working or what’s not. Do customers pull out of a sale on a certain page? Is one product more popular than another? Is one of your online resources shared among friends more than others? Recording this data with Google Analytics is a useful way to track growth over time, remove potential hurdles to a sale and increase the types of activities that lead to success.

It isn’t always easy to hear negative feedback from your customers, but it’s crucial to achieving business growth. If you listen carefully and handle it in the right way, you will end up with happier customers and a boost to the bottom line. What’s not to love?

The New Year sales are prime time to promote your business and wares. People are in the mood to spend! A strategically timed sale is a great opportunity to surprise and delight your customers and attract new attention too.

Here are three quick tips to get your small business ready for sale season:

Select the right product

Be strategic about the offer. In the past, sales were generally for leftover stock that a business needed to shift. While that’s still true today, a sale can be used for so much more than just last season’s digs.

Consider using your sale as an opportunity to sample a new product or upsell a service. Research consumer trends and tie your offer into what’s hot or in the current news or seasonal cycle. Create package deals that encourage a customer to keep coming back. It will keep your brand top of mind and provide more opportunities to engage your customers.

Power up social channels

Use the sale season to build your online communities by promoting offers for “insiders” – a customer must like your Facebook page or follow you on Twitter to redeem the reward. Create a series of incentives that reward engagement such as sharing or commenting.

Get the word out

Database marketing is an excellent way to promote your sale to your customers. You can create sale-themed emails or offers and schedule follow-up emails to remind customers to take a peek at your website.

The best thing about database marketing is its efficiency. You have the ability to target thousands of customers all at once, with targeted information based on their customer profile.

You can also use the results of the campaign to create future campaigns. For example, customers who purchased new season wares might be interested in hearing of trends ahead of the curve, whereas customers who purchased heavily discounted items might be more motivated by price. 

Think logistics

Don’t forget to keep your customers informed of opening hours, delivery times and return policies. The easier you can make it for your customers, the more they’ll love you for it.

New Year is a wonderful time to reward your loyal customers for their support over the previous year and touch base with customers who may have fallen off the radar. Make the most of it!

Having worked for a Bloomtools franchisee, Yvette Zocher knew that this was a business she wanted to be a part of.  Yvette loves the unique way that Bloomtools approaches website development and was thrilled to have the opportunity to buy the Northern Sydney and Central Coast franchise. That ‘uniqueness’ is a sophisticated content management system, with integrated tools and a wide range of products, that ensures clients have a website that can grow with them, including database marketing, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools and search engine optimisation (SEO).

Yvette is not new to the internet, having studied website design and technical programming languages, and been delivering web solutions to the market for nearly a decade.  “With my background experience where I have used many of the Web solutions that are available in the market today, as soon as I worked with Bloomtools products and tools I knew I had found the best in the market.  For me, where I put all my heart and soul into the solutions for my clients, I need to have something that I know will deliver them the best results.  And having used Bloomtools products for a while, I have seen this as well as have been excited about the results we have achieved for our clients”, Says Yvette

Yvette’s experience, passion, business acumen, friendly manner, service ethics and attention to detail are highly praised by clients.  And something we know that Northern Sydney and Central Coast Businesses will keep on adoring in years ahead