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Posted on Thu, 02/9/2012 - 01:30 PM by
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As small business owners, we’re all strapped for cash and we hate spending unnecessarily. That being said, not everything should be DIY (do-it-yourself). Sometimes trying to save money and do things yourself costs you more in lost time and lost business than you saved in cash.
Consider handing these over to the experts: 1. Business Cards Sure, Vistaprint and other sites have free templates you can customize to create your own business cards, but do you really want to use a template that hundreds of other companies have also used? The point of your business card is to stand out and be memorable – and you simply can’t do that with a cut and paste template. Alternative: Good designers can be cheaper than you’d expect. Especially if you choose a relatively new freelancer (perhaps a college student) or use a crowdsourcing tool like 99designs. You can also save by bundling several projects together, such as your business cards, brochures and direct mailers. 2. Website While you no longer have to be a programmer to design a good website, you still should have some sense for design and layout. Content management systems (CMS), while useful tools, don’t make it foolproof to goof up on your website design. And with basic CMS functions, you may not know about more advanced features that let you add in descriptions and metatags. Alternative: If you insist on designing your own site, go with a do-it-yourself content management system that provides ample customer support so that you can get feedback and help, making your site more user friendly. Try Weebly, SnapPages or Yola. Or ask for referrals for a good web designer based on your needs. Realize that if all you need is a simple 4-page website, the cost won’t be astronomical. 3. Mobile Apps There’s a reason there are over 500,000 iTunes apps, many of which have few to no users. Companies that have no business creating apps are doing so. There are DIY app design programs like AppMakr, but they don’t help you with mobile app strategy, and without that – your app is useless. After all, do we really need a store locator app for your brand? Doesn’t Google Maps do that? What are you really trying to accomplish with your app? Alternative: Find a mobile app developer with experience in your space. If you’re in the travel industry, find a designer who’s created other travel apps. Let the developer guide you to building an effective mobile app strategy rather than being stubborn about how your future app will be more popular than Angry Birds. It’s simply not happening. 4. Content I could write books about the companies who undervalue good content. Suffice it to say, a lot of brands want content that will help them connect to customers, but they don’t want to pay its worth. Job boards like Elance are filled with writing gigs promising to pay a whopping $4 for 600 words (I’m not joking). If you devalue writing this much, you probably don’t get the overall content marketing thing. You pay to have a professional writer to create content that reflects positively on your company. For $4, you simply can’t guarantee that it won’t be riddled with typos and run-on sentences. Is it worth the savings to have to rewrite it? Alternative: If you can’t afford a full-time writer or marketing staffer, outsource your writing to a freelancer or a firm. Look for a company or writer that’s written about your industry before and negotiate a rate for bulk numbers of articles. 5. Software Sure, there are plenty of freeware programs available and you’ll get a lot done with Google Docs and a free membership to Basecamp. But when you need software to fill a hole that the freebies can’t, it’s time to invest. Paying a nominal fee for accounting software will prevent a major headache, as will project management software. Alternative: Rather than paying a big chunk of cash for accounting software like QuickBooks to install on your computer, try the online edition for a lower monthly fee (QuickBooks Online starts at $12.95 a month). You’ll constantly get upgrades, which keeps you from having to shell out another few hundred on the latest and greatest edition. Business Cheapskate Photo via Shutterstock 5 Things Business Owners Shouldn’t Skimp on MORE NEWS FROM SMALL BUSINESS TRENDSCreating Google Alerts Directly in Google AnalyticsA few weeks back I wrote about the powerful new metrics that small business owners can glean from the new Social reports within Google Analytics. And since that post, even more neat features have been released to help business owners learn more about not only what’s happening on their site, but what’s happening off of it, as well. Nominations Are Open for the Small Business Influencer Awards!Does a special person or company come to mind when you think of someone or something important in the world of small business? Perhaps you think of a client of yours. Or maybe a favorite vendor or supplier, or a software app that has transformed your small business or made it more profitable. Or perhaps you think of a favorite journalist who covers issues important to small businesses. G8 Leaders Call for Growth: Six Things You Can DoLeaders the world over including those at this week’s G8 Summit are calling for economic growth, not just budget tightening, in an effort to combat world market instability and speed recovery. But for all the talk in policy circles, this growth will ultimately come from the private sector and especially here in the U.S., from small to medium sized businesses that create many of the jobs and employ many of the workers already in our economy. Here’s a look at the economic growth G8 leaders are calling for and six things you can do to promote growth in your business today. Can a Gas Tax Fuel Clean Energy Innovation?With gas prices already reaching nearing $4 per gallon in many places, most business owners don’t relish the idea of them rising even further. Yet, some people are still calling for the government to deliberately increase them – by raising the gas tax. What Job Are You Helping Your Customers Do?Marketing is often described in terms of a product life cycle. The development, the launch, continued support, and finally, discontinuation all have specific marketing efforts associated with them. From social contests to reduced prices and giveaways, the emphasis is nearly always on the product or service provided. However, this does not take into account the way that customers actually search for and find products. RELATED SMALL BUSINESS NEWSWhy There's Not Much Sizzle In Two Burger Chains' IPO PlansCan two also-ran burger chains that struggled through the recession win over Wall Street investors? We'll soon find out, as fast-food franchisor CKE Restaurants -- corporate parent of both Carl's Jr. and Hardee's -- recently filed to go public, seeking roughly $100 million and applying for the stock... No room for weeniesNo use complaining Keep up won’t you? There’s no room for weenies in the global micro enterprise community. My hapless and hopeless UK agent, Tony Robinson OBE, sent me a press clipping of what Serena Williams said after winning the Madrid Open last week. He’s obsessed by how Ser... Day 2: National Small Business Week - Corinne’s Catfish Tells Us Why They Love ItFor today’s post, we spoke with Orin Moore, owner and founder of Corinne’s Catfish in Lewisville, Texas. The On Deck Team found this story particularly inspiring – and we hope our readers to do. How Ads on Your Site Can Affect SEO (Video)Your search rankings could be suffering if there are a number of advertisements above the content on your website. ... SBA Seeks to Boost Small-Dollar Loans With New Push (Video)The SBA is looking to increase the number of smaller loans in underserved communities with a new push. ... |
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