SME Blog

SME Online

Not one, not two, but three articles this week all on the same topic.  Our topic of the moment is SME's and the internet. 

Why should SME's be interested in the internet?  Well if IMRG research group are to be believed then online retailing is expected to double in the next 5 years and it's not just the large companies that can get a slice of the action.   SME's generate approximately 52% of the total UK business turnover, but large companies still dominate the online retail market.

SME's have much to gain by entering this market.  For example, specialist or niche suppliers using the internet can launch a worldwide marketing campaign for relatively little cost. 

If you are serious about your SME getting a strong online presence then you'll need a great website and that website must be found easily on the internet.  To do this requires the black magic of search engine optimisation.  You'll know when the magic has worked as your site will appear on the first page of a Google search.  The good news is that there are some great small companies out there that can help set up and search engine optimise your website.

One thing is for sure, whatever you decide to do, the internet is not going away.  Why not see what it can really do for your business today before your competitor does?

Technorati Tags: small business  medium sized business  sme  smb  blogging accountants

Blogs, blogs and more blogs

I have been trying to avoid this for sometime now.  Other people can do a much better job at writing about this than me. 

I'm talking about the rise of the blog.  I can't avoid it anymore, because according to David Sifry at Technorati (the Google equivalent for blogs):

• Technorati now tracks over 35.3 Million blogs
• The blogosphere is doubling in size every 6 months
• It is now over 60 times bigger than it was 3 years ago
• On average, a new weblog is created every second of every day
• 19.4 million bloggers (55%) are still posting 3 months after their blogs are created
• Technorati tracks about 1.2 Million new blog posts each day, about 50,000 per hour

Blogs are starting to have a real impact.  Large companies are monitoring blogs for PR purposes (I was contacted this week by the PR department of a large UK company.) Small companies are getting their message to the masses.   And the individual is having fun (at 67 my mother is writing her memoirs on a blog - the family contribute, add comments, pictures etc..)  It's the early stages of a technology revolution.

The right people

Following on from yesterdays post here is some advice from entrepreneurs in the form of clickable slides courtesy of BusinessWeek.  The most popular advice is to get the right people and have adequate capital for the venture.  It's good to see that it backs up the post yesterday with some practical experience and that it places emphasis the importance of properly managing the financial side of the business.

Philip Woodgate

Technorati Tags: small business  medium sized business  sme  smb  blogging accountants

How do badly managed companies survive?

Are you surprised by any of these three points below?

• Companies that perform well typically have good managers at all levels of the organisation;

• There is a solid link between how well managers adopt proven best practices and how well a company performs;

• Employees in better-managed companies are likely to experience a more satisfactory work-life balance.

The above are findings recently reported by the LSE in conjunction and McKinsey & Company on management practices and productivity.  The findings come from a survey of over 700 midsize manufacturing companies in the France, Germany, the UK and the US. 

Hopefully, there are not too many surprises at this stage, but what the report did show is that managers are normally more important than the industry sector in which a company operates, the regulatory environment that constrains it, or the country where it resides.  As Stuart Jones says in BusinessMatters :

"People are your most important asset" turns out to be wrong. People are not your most important asset. The right people are. 

How do so many badly managed companies survive?  The answer is due to competition - or lack of it.  In a typical situation, it is very difficult for a badly managed company to survive; it's tough enough for the well run companies.  However, if the competition is weak then the need for a well managed company becomes less.  Good examples would be small companies with particular niches, unique desired products and where geography is a factor (e.g. your shop is the only shop on the island).  This is all very well and good if you are in this group, but watch out as the competition always has a way of catching up.

Finally, you can find further information on the report from Egils Milbergs, which will be of particular interest if you are involved in a family owned business.

Philip Woodgate

Technorati Tags: small business  medium sized business  sme  smb  blogging accountants

You are not a bank!

"Q. What one thing should I do every month to help my business succeed?

A. Every business must make a profit. But even profitable businesses can fail if customers don't pay on time since they may not have the cash in the bank to meet their own bills. Every month, identify customers who haven't paid you on time, known as "aged debtors", and chase them. Remember that you are in business to make money and not to lend it - you are not a bank!"

That's from the The Independent Online SME section.  Great to see that they have a dedicated SME section and it's not just large company news.  The advice is good as well, but for more help in this area click here and see below.

Sorting & AutoFilter

Continuing with the Excel Tips series this video is on sorting and autofilter.  Using these tips can make working with data much easier.  In this case I've taken a slice of my ITunes music collection and used it to show how you can sort it and filter it as you wish.  You may not like the music, but you should find the video is helpful.

Click here to download the Windows Microsoft Media version

This works with Microsoft Media player.

Click here to download the Real player version

You can download a free Real player here (right-hand side download screen).

Click here to download the Quicktime version.

You can download a free Quicktime player here.

Click here to download the Excel spreadsheet used in the video

Philip Woodgate

Excel is a registered trademark of the Microsoft® Corporation.

Technorati Tags: small business  medium sized business  sme  smb  blogging accountants  excel

Innovation & the SME

Increasingly, SME success is not coming from being the cheapest, but being distinct from the competitors.   This is the message coming from an article on innovation in BusinessWeek. 

To be distinct requires innovation.  One way to find innovative ideas is to get ideas and feedback from all the employees, particularly those on the front lines.

So here is an idea - set up a password protected blog.  Give your staff the password and let them post comments to the blog for any ideas they may have.  If the idea doesn't work for the company then explain why.  If it does then USE IT.

Philip Woodgate

Technorati Tags: small business  medium sized business  sme  smb  blogging accountants