The recession challenge!

It’s Monday; one more week and it will be March. I hope the weather will get better, remember that I am in Winnipeg and -30 C is the average. I need some warm weather....

Last week someone asked me to help them with growing their business through the web (put up or shut up, to quote them directly). They have heard over and over again that the web will help them grow their sales, but so far they had not seen the benefit even with a website they had done a few years ago (NOT Webidiotz, I add).

With that request in mind, this week I will put up and help ten businesses grow their online sales by personally guiding their growth in the next 12 months.



My challenge

There are many stages of an economic recession. The first is overconfidence: "We're busy as bees. There can't be a slowdown." Then comes denial: "Nah, things are fine here" (this is also known as bending the truth, especially popular among entrepreneurs who are strung out on credit).

Next is the blame phase: "We wouldn't even be having this recession if it weren't for (pick two: the wars, banks, the government, or anyone else you can blame )."

Right now I think we're in the fourth phase where everyone asks everyone else, "What are you hearing? What are you seeing?" This is the "What the hell is going on?" phase, in which people tire of listening to the learned economists. They try to divine the future by consulting other business owners, which is only partly effective, since they're all bending the truth anyway.

The Chinese proverb "May you live in interesting times" must have been coined in a business climate similar that of today. The credit crunch and its reverberations are being widely felt, nowhere moreso than in smaller organizations that have fewer marketing resources than the big boys.

Businesses need help to navigate these tricky economic waters while staying focused on profitable expansion rather than contraction. If you can grow in these times, you will emerge on the other side of the economic crisis ahead of the competition.

Here are five of my ideas on how to grow your business during the next twelve months:

1. Create a weekly newsletter updating your old and new customers about you; what you are up to? What’s the latest topic in your industry? How you are helping the community?
2. Blog once a week and deep link your blog to 5 social conversations on the net every week.
3. Create a Facebook/Twitter business page and get friends and family to help promote your business.
4. Ask your customers what they love and hate about you.
5. Make your website perform sales 24 hours a day.
6. Extra one: for my next 10 clients.

Ok, yes, it’s easier said than done but it’s better than waiting for the economy to change or feeling lost because you just don’t know what to do next.

So here is my challenge: the next 10 clients that order their website from Webidiotz will get my services free of charge for one year. For the next 12 months, I will offer coaching and mentorship that will support the implementation of the above strategies and I will personally oversee the challenge of growing your business.

What I promise is simple: together we will grow your business without fail. We will use all the resources that we have available and set up weekly and monthly goals in order to grow your business all for the cost of a new website.

CALL 1-888-211-8133 NOW to reserve your place and challenge me to grow your business.


Neil Patel, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

How much does a website cost?

My answer is always how much is your business worth? Lets be honest: there is a thin line between success and failure and we are all facing a tricky time with the recession.

Running a small or large business is hard work, and for most of it there are more downs than ups, but we love our business and we should give it every chance to survive. This means making a profit.

More and more families are turning on their computers to find better deals or just doing their homework before they make a commitment to spend their hard earned money wisely.

An effective website not just a pretty one could cost you your business, your next new customer, and even the difference between making and losing money.

Websites come in all shapes and sizes and the cost ranges from nothing to millions, but a website should at all times deliver dollars to your business.

Webidotz takes care of all the risk. We are confident that you should only buy something that fits. You wouldn't buy a pair of shoes that don't fit! We will design your website at no cost and we will deliver the perfect website that makes you happy. We have a simple cost structure that includes everything you need to have an effective website.

We deliver websites from $1000 to online shopping sites at $2000. In fact we guarantee that if you do not get a 1000 unique visitors to your website in the first 12 months, you get every cent back.

Building a new website or updating your current site is the most cost effective way to spend your hard earned dollars.

Its a measurable cost and one that over time will deliver exceptional results. A good website is a 24 hours sales person which is the least expensive cost on your balance sheet.

Its also one of many items on a list you need to survive in business but a website comes up pretty high on the agenda when you can see the impact it can make to your business.

Yellow Pages V Your website

It's interesting how many times in the past few weeks I have heard business owners say, "We decided to spend our money on the Yellow Pages and not a website."

Every dollar you spend has to be measurable, and with the recession likely to get worse before it gets better, we need make our marketing budgets work hard for our sales and profits.

Read this article and then visit Yellow Pages website and type in what your business does (e.g. florist), and the location.

What you will get is a list of businesses (if you're lucky yours might show up on the top). Roughly 85 percent of people going to the Yellow Pages online will search this way. Are you with me still? Now look at the list of businesses that are on the list and you will notice a link to the business website. Many do not have links to a company website. Did you know that almost every person that comes to use the Yellow Pages online ONLY clicks on the companies that have a website. If you have not got a website you just lost your new customer to your competitor.

Let's put it another way: when someone visits a dating site you are more likely to look at a profile of a person with a picture than one without. The facts are that 85 percent of visitors on dating sites only visit profiles with photos. The same can be said for people using the Yellow Pages: they will research your website then if they like what they see they will contact you.

Not having a website is like having no picture on a dating site. Few will visit you or buy from you.

Example below





The Yellow Pages will never deliver the results of a business with it's own website. The facts speak for themselves.

Read why the Yellow Pages paid a very big price for just a domain name.

YellowPages Paid $3.85 Million In Cash For YP.com

A month for love!

Okay, I admit it. It's been a crazy couple of months...for everybody. For most small business owners, December is chaotic because you're trying to finish out the year strong. January isn't any better. After all, you've got to start the New Year on the right foot.

But by February, things seem a little more under control. And since February is the month of love, it's a good time to remember how much you love your business. As small business owners, if you don't take the time to remember the positive things about your company, you'll continue to feel the chaos and pressure of those busier months.

So let me lead by example for a moment. Why do I love Webidiotz? Because we have awesome employees. We have a mission to support the business community in achieving positive results through the Internet. We work with incredible entrepreneurs and small business owners who are making a real difference in the world.

You know, I truly love small business. Small business owners are the ones who are going to turn the economy around and I love listening to the ways our customers are growing their businesses, families, and communities.

I hope you take the time to remember how much you love your business, customers, and seeing your revenue ijavascript:void(0)ncrease!

Get online or go home!

I really don't need a website or your business

When a business owner claims that they don't need a website, what they are really saying is, "I don't want to communicate with my customer or generate new sales. I want potential customers to give their money to my competition."


Despite living in the midst of the electronic age, some executives are still reluctant to accept that every business today needs a website and a company email address instead of a personal hotmail account. The truth of the matter is that there has never been a more crucial time to have a polished and professional online presence.

Think about the evolution of technology, its role in information sharing, and the exponential rate at which it's been growing. It took the radio 38 years to grow its audience to 50 million. Television came along, and it only took 13 years to grow an audience of 50 million. It took the Internet only four years, the Ipod three years, and Facebook two years.

One in eight American couples that were married last year met online. There are more than 200 million registered MySpace users; if it were a country, it would be the fifth largest in the world. The number of text messages sent and received daily exceeds the total population of the planet.

Technology is evolving and businesses need to evolve and adapt with it in order to survive. Today's market is extremely fractured, yet niche audiences have never been more accessible. Communities are built overnight and word of mouth can literally spread in the time that it takes to push a button.

Small and large business owners alike should not fear or be intimidated by the thought of starting a website; we specialize in customizing websites for any business out there. Are you ready for more business?

Neil Patel, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Queen launches new-look website

The Queen has relaunched her website at a Buckingham Palace reception in the company of the world wide web's inventor, Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

The royal site, which started in 1997, now includes more video material as well as historical documents.

Queen Victoria's journal in which she describes trying out Alexander Graham Bell's new invention, the telephone, is to be among the new features.

About 250,000 people around the world visit the site each week.

The Queen stood in front of a bank of nine screens and clicked a remote control to re-launch the site.

The Monarchy site's homepage appeared showing a range of simple menus and tabs which it is hoped will make it easier to navigate.

In a speech, Sir Tim Berners-Lee said the website "celebrates a really important part of the British cultural tradition - the monarchy - and is a great resource for the people within Britain, so it deepens that culture.

Tim Berners-Lee: "The number of things people do on the web is amazing"
"But at the same time it's there for anybody to see it from other countries, where they really don't understand how the monarchy works - what it does do, what it doesn't do - so now they can go and look."

When the site was first launched, the Queen spoke of how some parents and grandparents found the internet "a bit of a mystery".

BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt said while the site should be more user-friendly, the Queen is only going so far into cyberspace.

"We can't e-mail her and there's little prospect of the Queen blogging, conducting a webchat or indeed twittering," our correspondent added.

The Duke of Edinburgh appearing in an advert for the Playing Fields Association, 1951
The site was visited more than 100 million times in its first year, making it one of the most popular locations on the internet at the time. And in the week of Princess Diana's funeral, some 35 million visits were recorded.

Royal.gov.uk is not the only presence the Queen has on the internet. In 2007, she launched her own channel on the video-sharing website YouTube.

The Royal Channel features her Christmas Day message, and recent and historical footage of the monarch and other members of the Royal Family.

Neil Patel, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada