Brenda Eckstein International

Strategy, Leadership, Integral Coaching and Communication consulting

How To Get To SERPs Number 1

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Gary is a trainer and technology consultant based in Sydney, Australia. Contact Gary at gary@eckstein.id.au for assistance in selecting and implementing Learning Management Systems.

It is a New Year and for some that means New Years resolutions. 2010 has been a very successful year for me and I have been extremely busy building awesome WordPress Websites for clients. 2010 was notable for me as my many hours of SEO activities paid off very handsomely in that I ranked in the first few results in the Google, Bing and Yahoo SERPs for some very competitive keywords/terms for much of 2010.  I have therefore shared what I believe to be five key SEO activities that are essential to SEO success. So, without further ado, here are five SEO things to do in 2011 that will benefit your Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) rankings:

1. Relevant and Quality Content
Content is king! There is no way around this and all the off-page or black-hat SEO you may employ will be in vain unless you have content that people want to view/read. Search Engines understand text better than video, images or sound so if you don’t have much text then make absolutely sure that you always fill in the meta fields such as ‘Title’, ‘Alt’ and ‘Caption’. Search Engines take notice of the text in these additional meta fields so use them to properly described what is in your image, video or sound file.

Action: In 2011 make an extra effort to include relevant content that your viewers want to see, hear or read. In addition help the Search Engines by including extra data where relevant.

2. Search Engine Webmaster Help
As inferred earlier, helping the Search Engines to crawl your Site is good SEO! There are numerous free (and paid) services available that will help you identify where Search Engines are having difficulty crawling your Site, where links may be broken and so on. Two of the best services are Google Webmaster Central and Bing Webmaster Tools and with these two being free to use there is no excuse to not take advantage of the brilliant SEO positive information that they provide.

Action: Sign up and enable one of these Webmaster services and then every few weeks sign-in to see what the services are seeing and where they are having problems. Make changes to your Site accordingly and you will benefit through higher rankings in the SERPs.

3. Localization
Localization has become a very hot topic of SEO in 2010. It is still early days for localization and even the definition of this term differs (e.g. does localization refer to a neighbourhood, a state, a country etc.). One thing is for sure and that is that there are some activities related to geographic location that make for good SEO and in 2011 the importance of localization will continue. Things like hosting your Site in the same country as your target audience and having a TLD consistent with your target audience all make a big difference to the quality and quantity of visits.

Action: Get a domain name with the Top Level Domain (TLD) of your target audience (e.g. for Australia get a .au domain name). Also, host your Website in the country of your target market.

4. Website Objectives
Regular readers of my content will know that I am a big fan of setting Website objectives and then focusing Website activities on meeting these objectives. I’m amazed that setting Website Objectives isn’t often mentioned as a critical SEO activities but I guess that’s because it is very strategic rather than tactical.

Setting objectives is kind of like looking at a map; if you don’t know where you are going then how do you know which route to take. Objectives define where you want to go with your Website and then all the activities you take regarding your Website is essentially the route to meeting your final destination (your objective/objectives).

Action: As soon as you can set your Website objectives and then throughout this year focus on meeting those objectives (just remember to describe your objectives in high-level business terms; an objective like ‘have a minimum of 1000 unique visits a day by 20 December 2011′ isn’t generally a good a objective as what business outcome are you getting by having 1000 unique visitors a day?).

5. Move to WordPress
I am very biased towards WordPress Websites because of my being a WordPress Website Designer. Because I often move clients from their existing Web software to WordPress I get to see first-hand the SEO benefits of WordPress. I honestly believe that WordPress is best for SEO for two reasons; WordPress is naturally SEO ‘friendly’ and equally importantly, WordPress makes it so incredibly simple for people to SEO their content (e.g. with meta data, ‘prettylinks’ etc.).

Action: Move to WordPress, you won’t regret it!

Why A Customer Service Strategy Is Critical

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Gary is a business consultant and trainer based in Sydney, Australia but operating internationally. He assists organisations in getting business benefits from I.T . Contact Gary - Mobile: +61 410 923 445, gary@eckstein.id.au, http://eckstein.id.au

Many years ago (I’m starting to sound old!) I worked in luxury hotels. There are many luxury hotels and all offer similar levels of comfort and are priced similarly (although low price usually isn’t a good selling point when it comes to luxury). What really distinguishes the top hotels from the rest is great customer service. The importance of customer service becomes part of the hotels culture as formulated in a Customer Service Strategy and all employees are trained continuously in this key differentiator. A one time slip of service can result in thousands of dollars in lost future revenue and the inverse is also true, where great service can mean attaining a new customer or increased spend by customers.  Basing customer service decisions on potential future revenues is a great means of gaining a sustainable competitive advantage over competitors and a good means of understanding what an organization should be doing regarding customer service is to have a Customer Service Strategy. What follows are two examples of customer service that illustrate the importance of every employee being empowered to provide great customer service whilst understanding the potential future value of the customer.

A Customer isn’t worth $1.50 at this hotel
In most countries, no fee is charged by the seller when the customer pays by credit card (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Diners etc.). The Australian government allows for retailers to charge an amount when people pay by credit card. Although this is favourable for retailers, consumers are against this premium charge.

A while back I attended a convention at a premium hotel. On one of the nights a few of us had dinner at the hotel restaurant. It was a quick dinner and so as we sat down we each ordered a pizza without taking too much notice of the menu. When the bill arrived, and a Visa card was provided for payment the waiter advised that 1½ % premium would be charged for payment. We felt ‘ripped off’ as we’d spent considerable sums of money at the hotel during the convention and now the hotel was trying to take an additional $1.50 off us which, we felt, was totally petty. We mentioned our displeasure to the waiter and he advised that even all service stations charge a premium for use of a credit card which is blatantly incorrect (I always pay for fuel by credit card and have never been charged a credit card premium). I then spoke to the restaurant manager who pointed to a small sign near the POS which noted the additional charge and he also mentioned that at the bottom of the menu was the notice of the additional charge (note however that people pay from their tables therefore don’t see the tiny sign at the POS and many people order by glancing at the menu rather than reading the tiny notice at the bottom of the menu). Was profiteering by $1.50 really in the best interests of the hotel? Shouldn’t the waiter (or the manager) have been empowered to waive the $1.50 in the best interests of future business?

What was interesting is that many people at the convention had many similar gripes about the hotel so there is clearly a large customer service problem.

Retailer’s Time is more important than the Customers.
We recently went to buy a leather lounge sofa. We found one we liked at one of Australia’s biggest furniture, computer and white-goods retailers. I sat down with the salesman and gave him my name, address and so on and he stated that it would cost $65 to deliver. Then however came the deal-breaker … by now I have agreed to purchase the sofa worth over $2000 and am sitting with the salesman, with him already having entered my details into the computer system.  He then asks for a required delivery date so I advise that an afternoon on a certain date is preferable. The salesman then says that he can only give a date for delivery and not an approximate time (i.e. the customer has to be available at the delivery address for a whole day). I explained that I cannot be expected to spend a whole day waiting for a sofa to be delivered and that I wouldn’t purchase the sofa if neither a morning nor afternoon for delivery can be agreed.  Anyway, the salesman said that I’d have to accept that I’d have to be at my house the whole day for delivery so the sale was lost by the retailer and I’ll be spending my $2000 somewhere else.

Why couldn’t a half-day time slot for delivery be provided by the retailer? Why couldn’t the salesman give a small discount to keep the sale and perhaps then I’d agree to the whole day delivery waiting time (the salesman had the sale and just had to make me feel like I was getting a good deal)? There are so many things that the salesman could have done from a customer service perspective to both get the sale and ensure that I’d feel positive about the purchase. The retailer has lost a customer because they do not value their clients’ time.

A Customer Service Strategy
A person expects far more than ‘just’ a product when they buy something. They are expecting a certain level of service too. Of course, the amount and quality of service expected varies according to customer expectations (e.g. a person spending $150 on a haircut expects better service than having a haircut at a budget hair salon). It is critical that a Customer Service Strategy is formulated and communicated within the organization. Your employees must know what they are empowered to do relating to customer service as well as what customer service expectations are.

Choosing A Learning Management System

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Gary is a trainer and technology consultant based in Sydney, Australia. Contact Gary at gary@eckstein.id.au for assistance in selecting and implementing Learning Management Systems.

Learning and development (L&D) makes business sense for most organizations. The significant advantages include increased employee motivation and improved employee skills and capabilities in addition to satisfying the various legal and stakeholder requirements to develop staff. Keeping records in relation to L&D is necessary (in Australia electronic records often need to be kept for 30 years) as is making L&D accessible and relevant for employees. A significant portion of L&D involves training and this is the focus of this article.

The needs of learners have changed markedly over the past decade. With the proliferation of technology in business as well as in everyday life, learning is increasingly becoming decentralised and varied in content and method. Whereas ‘classroom’ teaching alone may have satisfied most learners a few years ago, combinations of media and extension of geographic reach are becoming necessary (increasingly video, wikis, blogs and the like are being combined to form successful training materials).

The solution to the changing training landscape has been in the form of software suites called Learning Management Systems (LMS). These software systems combine course content (for online education for example), assignments and records of attendance and attainment making them a single solution for managing most aspects of training in organizations, both educational and in other industries. The uptake of LMS has been rapid, particularly with the widespread use of Internet connectivity. The first widespread ‘wave’ of LMS use began in the late 1990s with the adoption of learning software systems in large corporate enterprises, government departments and larger educational institutions such as universities. We are however on the cusp of a new wave of LMS implementations.

Due to the improving capabilities along with increased support and reliability of General Public License (GPL i.e. free to implement and use) Learning Management Systems, the Return on Investment (ROI) of implementing and maintaining a LMS is proving attractive to medium and even some small size organizations. Whereas in the past LMS cost a fortune to license, implement and maintain, the costs have become affordable to smaller organizations particularly when weighed against the benefits that may be attained. This is resulting in a new wave in rapid uptake and implementation of Learning Management Systems.

The major proprietary Learning Management System developers and vendors had a very valid argument for persuading potential customers to ignore GPL systems; GPL systems lacked support, were short on features and were unreliable. Unfortunately for the major proprietary LMS vendors, the tables have turned; GPL systems are now often more reliable, have more features, have a far broader support based (such as documentation and online forums) and are simpler to implement than the propriety systems.

If your organization is thinking of implementing or updating a LMS it is thoroughly advisable to consider some of the GPL alternatives such as Moodle, Ilias and Claroline. Nowadays a strong case needs to be made to implement a non-GPL LMS.

10 Step Document Review Best Practice

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Gary Eckstein is a Business Analyst based in Sydney, Australia. Gary can reduce your organization’s costs and improve quality by implementing and managing document review processes. Gary may be contacted at Gary Eckstein, +61 (0)4-1092-3445, gary@eckstein.id.au, http://eckstein.id.au

In large corporations the review of documentation comprises tens of thousands of labour-hours per year. In this article a best-practice approach to document review processes is offered; this document does not describe authoring documents but rather the document review process between a Customer and Supplier.

The Advantages of Review Process Best-Practice
There are numerous advantages to adhering to a best-practice document review process:

  • Quality: The quality of documents is enhanced through clear guidelines and defined roles and responsibilities.
  • Costs: For the Supplier, documentation costs will be reduced through reduced rework and less documented ambiguity.
  • Ongoing relationships: As documentation is often one of the first times operational people from the Supplier and Customer engage, being professional from the start sets a positive ‘tone’ for ongoing business relationships.
  • Customer care: The Supplier, through review process best-practice shows that they are serious about meeting the Customers’ needs. This results in enhanced Customer care for the Customer.

Context
Most major contracts between organizations involve some form of documentation creation and delivery (i.e. a contract deliverable). For example, suppose that an I.T. service provider has been awarded a multi-million dollar contract to provide networking services to a government department. The government department (the Customer) will typically specify during contract negotiation what documentation they expect to attain from the I.T. service provider (the Supplier).

The documentation required will usually include some form of operational documentation which describes how the contract deliverables will be provided to the Customer by the Supplier. The responsibility for authoring the documents will be with the Supplier and the Customer will be responsible for reviewing the documents.

It is assumed for this article that the documentation to be delivered by the Supplier to the Customer is of an operational nature i.e. how the contract is to be delivered from an operational perspective.

Key Supplier Considerations
The documentation requirements are usually legally binding upon the Supplier. This obviously means that great care needs to be taken to ensure that ambiguous detail is avoided and that only items in the contract are included in the subsequent documentation.  Often Suppliers and/or Customers will purposefully attempt to create ambiguity in the documentation in order to gain an advantage over the other party.

Creating documents is very costly and therefore the Supplier must attempt to manage the document process as effectively and efficiently as possible with both quality and costs being key considerations.

Key Customer Considerations
As with the Supplier, the Customer also needs to ensure that they understand exactly what is in the documentation and that it corresponds to what is in the agreed contract/s. Again, unclear detail must be avoided. The Customer must be able to clearly understand how the contract is going to be delivered per the text in the document/s and that the operational delivery will compliment and support the Customers business.

So, from the Suppliers perspective, what is best practice in a document review process?

The Document Review Process
The following Ten Step document review process works well.  Organizations should customize this process as they see fit:

  1. Documentation Review Plan. This documented plan is created to define, document, agree and communicate the process; the scope, format, limitations, process, responsibilities, timings, people involved and so on should all be agreed before any document writing commences. Templates should also be created at this step and agreement with all stakeholders attained. Communicating the documentation plan is vital to the success of the documentation process.
  2. The ‘first draft’ document is created and given to the Customer for review.
  3. The first review by the Customer will typically involve a conceptual and high-level review i.e. is the concept of the document correct, the content relevant, the scope correct ...?
  4. The feedback is considered and entered in the reviewed document by the Supplier. Any debated feedback is communicated and agreed with the Customer.
  5. The second review by the Customer is a more detailed/low-level review by the Customer e.g. is the detail in fact correct, is the terminology correct etc. No high-level feedback or scope changes should be accepted from the Customer as this should have been given in the first Customer review.
  6. The feedback is considered and entered in the reviewed document by the Supplier. Any debated feedback is communicated and agreed with the Customer.
  7. The third review by the Customer: there should be very little feedback by the Customer as they have had two previous reviews to air their concerns.
  8. The final feedback is incorporated by the Supplier.
  9. Supplier Document Owner sign-off: the owner of the document must agree to, and sign-off on, the document.
  10. The final step is the Customer sign-off.

Of course reviewing the process is necessary so that it may be improved for the next document review needed.

Process Management
It’s all good and well to have a clearly defined and successful process however there is a missing ingredient. Adherence to the process through management by a single process manager is vital. Because Customer and Supplier management is required, an experienced and disciplined approach to process management is needed.

As an example, if there isn’t good management, it is more than likely that review comments by the Customer will be returned to the Supplier in an unordered and haphazard way. It takes a good manager to ‘push-back’ on the Customer to insist that all review comments be returned to the Supplier in a single review document (even although the means of communicating feedback should be defined in the first step of the process).

Summary
Suppliers often produce inadequate documentation for Customers. This is usually as a result of the Supplier not being professional in their approach to documentation delivery. Following the ten step documentation review process is sure to greatly enhance the quality of documentation produced, will reduce costs and will give the perception of the Supplier being professional.

A Simple & Effective Lesson In Change Management

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Gary is a business consultant and trainer based in Sydney, Australia but operating internationally. He assists organisations in getting business benefits from I.T . Contact Gary, +61 (0)4-1092-3445, gary@eckstein.id.au, http://eckstein.id.au

Kurt Lewin was a German-American psychologist. He introduced two simple yet hugely effective models which are widely taught in good Business Schools:

  • the Force-Field Analysis and the 
  • Unfreeze – Change - Freeze Model (this is also referred to as the Unfreeze – Change - Refreeze Model).

In this article we examine the Unfreeze – Change - Freeze Model and see how effectively this simple model can be applied to business and personal situations.

What is the Unfreeze – Change – Freeze Model
We know that change is disruptive and that some people and organisational cultures handle change better than others. Lewin studied change and then concluded that by following a three step Change Model, change could be made vastly less disruptive and more effective in reaching its objectives. The beauty of Lewin’s model (the model is actually a cycle as there is almost always a requirement for change in organisations) is that it is so simple to understand and yet so very powerful:

The Unfreeze – Change - Freeze Change Model

Unfreeze:  Before any change there is preparation to be done which includes communicating the need for change, up-skilling employees where necessary and so on.

Change:  As the organisation is now prepared for change (i.e. the Unfreeze stage has been addressed) the Change itself is now implemented.

Freeze: A period of stability is necessary after the Change for the organisation to adjust to the change. This time for stability is needed for employees and other stakeholders to adjust as well as for efficiencies and effectiveness resulting from the change to be realised.

The basic concept is that for change to be successful, it cannot be ongoing.  Periods of stability and preparation for change are necessary.

Example: Change Management in Education
It is interesting that so much of the Change Management theory is seen as business focused. Change however occurs in all professions and spheres of life. Below therefore is an example showing where Lewin’s Unfreeze – Change – Freeze model would benefit a primary school initiative:

In my home state of New South Wales (Australia) the State Government mandated that all Kindergarten children from 2010 need to be assessed as part of the ‘Best Start’ initiative. Certainly the idea is great as described by the Education Minister who states that ‘by sitting down with each student and assessing their early literacy and numeracy skills, teachers can develop learning plans for their students’.

The implementation of the assessment program was left mostly to each school and this is where a number of Change Management issues arose.

Change 1 – Starting school for the first time
Kindergarten in Australia is the first year of Primary School and the children are generally five years old. Many are away from their parents for the first time and for all the children it is a huge Change from their pre-school days.

My daughter’s school did a great job of preparing parents and advising them to get the children ready for the Change (i.e. they did well at the Unfreezing for children attending primary school for the first time). Day 1 of ‘Kindy’ came along and my daughter and others went off for their first day of primary school (i.e. the Change was effected). In the past (prior to 2010) the daily routine would then be the same for a certain amount of time so the children could adjust to the Change (i.e. Freeze).

Change 2 – Best Start Program
My daughter’s primary school decided that the class teacher would perform each child’s assessment of the new Best Start program.  This took place from day 2 of the new school year with teachers ‘filling in’ for the class teacher. This meant that for the next seven school days (i.e. days 2 to 8 of the children’s first days at primary school) there was a different substitute teacher each day who didn’t know the children (and the children didn’t know the teachers) and nor were the children familiar with the school itself. There was therefore no period of stability (Freeze) after the first Change.

Many of the children did not adjust at all well and, referring to the Unfreeze – Change – Freeze model it is evident why; a period of stability is needed after Change and this did not occur. The good news is that the school has recognised that there needs to be a period of stability (i.e. Freeze) before the Best Start assessments in future.

The Model Works
A common misconception is that simple models are less effective than complex models. Lewin’s Unfreeze – Change – Freeze model shows that a model that is  simple to understand and implement can be extremely effective in various organisations and Change situations.

Try applying this model to changes in your business and personal life and you will benefit.

Use Objectives For Success

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Most of us have personally set or have been provided with objectives. Objectives are commonly used in organizations of all size. However objective setting is often haphazard and objectives are not aligned towards organizational strategy. A framework for effective objective setting is also often lacking.

Peter Drucker, the well known management ‘guru’, introduced and recommended Management by Objectives (MBO). MBO, very simplistically, is about defining and communicating, at all levels of an organization, which objectives need to be realised in order to meet the aims of the organization (strategy, values and so on). Drucker was one of the first proponents of using objectives to meet the goals of an organization, for objectives to be complimentary and for formalising the objective setting process.

Below is a practical and simple guide for implementing the basics of MBO.

Objectives must align with Strategy

 

The Objective Setting Process
Per the diagram above, lower objectives are set for the specific audience and align to the higher objectives and ultimately organizational strategy. All objectives work towards common organizational goals.

Objectives should be set for departments and individuals. For example, a strategic objective may be ‘Improve market share of supermarket soap sales to 10% by March 2011’. Every sales person may then be given an objective of ‘Sell 500 cartons of soap to supermarkets each month’ (which will result in the 10% market share being reached). Each individual sales person will then be set further aligning objectives; Joe the salesman may be great at selling to existing customers however needs training in attaining new customers therefore may be set an objective of ‘Attend BEI training in personal networking techniques by March 2010’)

So, what makes a good objective?

Good Objectives are SMMART Objectives
SMMART objectives are extremely effective in aligning employees and the organization towards common goals. When setting objectives it is important that objectives are SMMART:

  • Specific: The objective must not be too broad and must be clearly defined.
  • Measurable: You must be able to measure success against the objective.
  • Measured: Measurement of performance against the objective as well as feedback to the person/people to whom the objective was set is critical.
  • Achievable: It must be realistic to achieve the objective.
  • Relevant: The objective must compliment higher objectives and strategy and be relevant to the person/department for whom the objective is being set.
  • Time-based: Don’t leave objectives open-ended. Have a specific date as to when the objective must be met.

MBO in Small Organizations
MBO was originally designed for large organizations. MBO is however often more effective in small organizations (and is usually far simpler to implement). Small organizations may benefit greatly from the entire organization having common objectives. Need assistance with aligning your objectives with strategy? Contact Gary at +61 (0)4-1092-3445, gary@eckstein.id.au, http://eckstein.id.au

Business Blogs

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Brenda Eckstein International is pleased to begin this new series of weekly blogs with an article by associate, Gary Eckstein, business consultant based in Sydney, Australia.

Why have a business blog
Blogging started as a means for anyone to be able to communicate information on the Internet; it was less expensive (often free) than maintaining a website and far more personal. Blogging has evolved significantly since the early days and the divide between websites and blogs has become increasingly blurred. The fundamental difference between a blog and a website (in the traditional sense) is that a blog contains frequently added content in the form of ‘posts’ (sometimes called ‘articles’).

Blogs for business public relations
Many organisations use blogs for public relations purposes. Blogs are an ideal means of putting across a message to interested readers. The content of a blog is managed by the blog owner meaning control of the ‘message’ (content) being communicated. Because most blogs also allow feedback from readers it is a great way of engaging potential from existing customers as well as attaining feedback from them. Once your blog is established it also provides the opportunity for a more direct style of marketing. Quality blogs, over time, attain regular readers which results in a willing sales channel!

Search engines and blogs
Google, Bing and other search engines love blogs because of the frequently added content and engagement with readers. Blogs also often attain more referrals from search engines than traditional websites. Of course the advantage of visitors being referred from the likes of Google is an expanding audience of potential customers. Increasingly quality websites include blogs as part of the business website itself due to blog benefits (this website is a good example of a combined website and blog).

Linking strategy, branding and blogging
It is essential for business blogs to align the ‘look and feel’ and content of the blog posts to business strategy. As an example there is little point in publishing a post about the advancement in quality of low cost suits when you sell premium ‘made to order’ suits. Blog posts must support the objectives and strategy of the business.

Of additional importance is recognising that a blog is an ideal means of positioning your products or services and brand in the mind of the consumer. It is a critical mistake to confuse your consumer in terms of your positioning (again the suit example used previously is applicable; if you sell premium suits then don’t confuse your customer by communicating the benefits of low cost suits).

Finally in relation to strategy, a blog must be considered a deliberate and long-term activity. As branding is a sustained and deliberate set of activities, so is a blog; benefits won’t be realised overnight however the long-term advantages may be significant.

How to start a business blog
So, where does a business start in relation to blogging? Unfortunately there is usually a divide between ‘I.T. people’ and ‘business people’ (i.e. although I.T. people are good at I.T. they often lack business and strategy understanding). It is therefore important to find and employ the services of a consultant who is able to cross the I.T./business divide. This consultant should then be tasked with planning for, and implementing a blog which will work towards the aims of your particular business. Blogging is typically far less costly and more effective than other forms of P.R. (and marketing) however does require new posting of content occasionally e.g. once per week.

Gary is a business consultant based in Sydney, Australia but operating internationally. He assists organisations in getting business benefits from I.T. Contact Gary , Telephone: +61 (0)4-1092-3445, gary@eckstein.id.au, http://eckstein.id.au

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